Married Life

Saw this last night at the premiere, and "Straight to Betamax" could not be more wrong. This is actually the first intelligent, smart and wonderfully acted film of the year, and both Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper give wonderful performances in a story which is intriguingly told and compellingly filmed.

I will agree with a few others that Pierce Brosnan seems a bit miscast in this picture, but not to the point that it ruins the film. Additionally, some of Rachel McAdams' dialogue seems a bit out of place for a character like her's during the period in which this story is set (it is supposed to take place in 1949), but she gives a great performance overall and her character is, for the most part (other than a few bad bits of out of place dialogue) fairly believable.

But Cooper and Clarkson are really wonderful in this film and Ira Sachs and company have done a terrific job with this story. Bravo.

Based on the 1953 novel "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" by John Bigham, "Married Life" - co-written by Oren Moverman and Ira Sachs, and directed by Sachs - is a throwback to all those florid film noir melodramas in which a bored husband (Chris Cooper) plots to do away with his wife (Patricia Clarkson) so he can start a life with his mistress, a leggy, blonde widow (Rachel McAdams) whose husband died in the war. Pierce Brosnan plays Cooper's best friend, a womanizing bachelor who, naturally, falls in love with the mistress, and who provides the overly-sincere, laughably self-conscious narration for the tale.

Though this kind of thing's been done much better in other films ("Double Indemnity," "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "How to Murder Your Wife" spring immediately to mind), solid performances from an A-list cast, rich period detail (the movie is set in 1949), and an interesting subtext about marriage meaning different things to different people ultimately make it palatable.

I love MARRIED LIFE!! It is a well crafted and beautifully written movie. By appearing to be a traditional noir, the film plays on the audience's expectations of the genre but then turns out to be something very different--something far more sad, funny and soulful. By having the traditional voice-over and haunting music at the outset, MARRIED LIFE subverts the viewer's expectations and draws us into a story that is utterly unique.

Characters in the film are not whom they appear to be--I like how all the leads are introduced as archetypes (e.g., the unhappily married business man, the cad, the long suffering wife, the pretty young widow) but each not only turns out to be different than expected, all four go through some sort of transition that deepens their humanity. They may be imperfect people and lacking in insight, but the audience feels empathy for their struggles. Given their array of poor choices, this is pretty amazing--their yearnings are poignant, even when their actions are deeply misguided. Humans are capable of being incredibly narcissistic and giving at the same time--the movie illustrates this with a mix of humor and pathos. The characters may be unable or unwilling to stop their most primal urges, yet we are rooting for them to find some happiness all the way to the end.

This film is wonderfully shot. Period details are rendered with loving care--whether it is the glorious costumes or the sweeping set design. Performances are top notch -- a true ensemble cast who look and sound like they are from a bygone era. A rich score magnifies the shifting moods without giving you whiplash. This is a complex movie that demands we see the world in shades of gray -- life is never simple. Especially married life!

I think director/co-writer Ira Sachs' subtle 2007 homage to the old-fashioned studio melodramas of the 1940s and 50s could have used more of the Baroque feverishness of a Douglas Sirk ("All That Heaven Allows") to make the adultery-driven plot more intriguing stylistically - perhaps a face slap here, a gun confrontation there, even a shouting match in a restaurant. Instead, Sachs, along with co-writer Oren Moverman ("The Messenger"), downplays the overripe theatrics in favor of a more Hitchcockian approach to their noirish fable about the transient rules of love and deception. The resulting film is fun to watch due to its faithful period depiction but sometimes little more than a moral exercise in punishing the subversive thoughts and actions of the seemingly staid protagonist.

It's 1949, and the plot centers on Harry, a middle-aged and very married Manhattan executive, who finds himself in love with the much younger Kay, a WWII widow who enjoys the attention of a man so devoted to her. Harry decides he cannot divorce his wife Pat for fear of breaking her heart. In fact, he thinks it's more charitable to murder her by poisoning her digestive powder which she takes religiously every day. Harry's best friend Richard is aware of Harry's intentions and gets caught in the middle trying to save the marriage while finding himself becoming attracted to Kay as well. Not quite the victim she would seem to be, Pat has secrets of her own, which leads to a roundelay of events befitting the increasingly uneasy blend of treachery and absolution. Sachs capably keeps things afloat even when the suspense factor appears overly muted.

A smart quartet of actors has been cast beginning with Chris Cooper ("Adaptation") effectively embodying the crushed soul that Harry has become. Providing the voice-over narration from his character's limited perspective, Pierce Brosnan ("The Matador") uses his naturally erudite manner to great wry effect as Richard, while Patricia Clarkson ("Whatever Works") gives added dimensions of knowingness and cunning to Pat. With her hair dyed an unflattering peroxide blonde, Rachel McAdams ("The Notebook") looks poised to play the femme fatale, but her character is more ingenuous than she looks. That basically means McAdams has little bandwidth to add any complex shading to Kay. The 2008 DVD offers an informative commentary from Sachs, the theatrical trailer, and three alternate endings, each flash-forwarding the story sixteen years later to O. Henry-type resolutions. While interesting, none really add that much to the ending used in the movie.

The DVD package says this is "a sly & smart comedy", but I have to warn you, that's not exactly what you get. To me, a sly & smart comedy would be "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" or "Deathtrap" or even "Fargo". While this movie has the same bizarre, criminal elements and intelligent dialogue as the above, I never sensed any outright comedy.

Still, it's well done & definitely worth a watch. Rather than a comedy, I would describe it more as a "drama of errors". The subject of murder is actually handled quite seriously although its casual nature might come across as odd (hence the humour?). There are no real laughs, but the strangeness of the story might elicit a few snorts, chortles, and possibly even a harrumph. But no guffaws.

The acting is excellent, the script is good, the style & direction is smooth & suave, like the 1940s setting it depicts. Some might consider it slow, but I'd say that's a plus because it gives us time to digest the complex themes that are presented such as the incompatible definitions of 'love', the value of loyalty in marriage as well as friendship, and of course the morality of murder.

Overall I liked this film. It's just the dag blasted ending that left me feeling cheated. I won't talk about it except to say that you should watch the alternate endings included on the DVD instead. In particular, Alternate #1 is closer to the book, and it gives us the thematic closure that the theatrical version omits. Alternate ending #1 also has a great piece of acting by Pierce Brosnan which, if it were in the actual movie, would've definitely made me bump up my rating by 1 or 2 stars.

"Married Life" is definitely worth the $2 rental fee. It deviates from the book on several key elements (such as the ending) and as a result doesn't quite wrap things up convincingly. But as far as movies go, it's entertaining, engaging and showcases some great acting talents.