My wife and I just got back from "The Door in the Floor", and I have to say that I found the film to be complex, deep, and intense. We will be hearing about nominations at Oscar time. There are many, many ways that people react to tragedy, and withdrawing the way that Marion Cole did is certainly common. We have friends that lost their eldest daughter to a congenital heart problem a year and a half ago, and I can tell you that he (the dad) reacted just that way, although he went down the alcoholic route, along with distancing himself from his other two children, because he couldn't face his daughter's death. He finally walked out on the entire family much like Marion did. If you think that it can't happen the way that it did in the film, think again.
The performances by Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger were spot-on perfect. Henry Fonda once said the secret of great actors was that they never let the audience see the wheels turning. I thought that Jeff's performance was one of his best, maybe even better than he was in "Fearless", although that is certainly arguable. I still liked Kim Basinger better in "L.A. Confidential", but this performance is certainly up there at the top.
I certainly intend to see this again, and will end up buying the DVD for my video library. I just love well-written character-driven dramas, and this is certainly one of the better ones.
