Blue Valentine
Dean and Cindy are a husband and wife, far beyond the first blushes of love. It’s more like the first blushes of disgust, actually. They’ve been married now for 6 years, and their marriage is falling apart.
Blue Valentine travels back and forth, from the early days of discovering each other and rushing into marriage, to a day 6 years later, when we see that Dean hasn’t changed at all, and Cindy wishes very much that he had. Dean is a man without ambition, who considers himself to be living the good life because he has a job where he can have a beer when he gets up in the morning, before he goes out into the world, painting houses. So he’s not really ambitious. He is grateful to be Cindy’s husband, and Frankie’s father, and that is enough for him, and always will be. He is a sweet, loving man, but he’s somewhat clueless about what Cindy needs. Cindy wanted to go to medical school, but her future was somewhat derailed by her pregnancy with Frankie. She works in a doctor’s office, and has ambitions of growing in her career there, but the doctor seems to be more interested in convincing her to have an affair with him than he is in her professional abilities, which is understandably frustrating to her. She’s mentally and emotionally exhausted, disappointed by her life. Dean doesn’t seem to mind, or perhaps he doesn’t even notice. He’s happy with the status quo, and if he can just cheer her up a little, he’ll be OK. He has no idea how far things have gone in her mind.
They have a hard day or two, and Dean’s idea of how to fix their relationship is to get out of town to a themed sex motel, where they can get drunk, make love, and reconnect. She’s semi-game, in theory, but the reality is a bit too much for her. She tries to talk to him about his potential and what he could be doing with his talents, but he’s not interested. The scenes of them trying to connect, of his desperation and her revulsion, are difficult to watch. It’s hard to say that I liked this film, but it’s one that had me thinking afterward, and the characters were so well drawn, and so well acted, that instead of saying I liked it a lot, I’ll say it was a very good film, and deserving of all of the praise and nominations that it garnered.
We missed it when it was in the theater. It’s on DVD or OnDemand now. Check it out.
8 Comments
Lynn
Funny, I feel the same way about your review as you did about the movie. It was so well done that I found it difficult to read.
Ted
I’m not so sure about whether to recommend this movie or not. It has a lot of emotional tension (even in the “happy” times), and the way it’s shot (mostly close ups) makes it tough to watch sometimes. The performances were really great, but you have to be in a certain mood to get into it. I guess I was up for laser beams and robots when we watched it, so I came away with mixed feelings. 🙂
starshine
The way you described this movie is how I felt after watching “American Beauty”. Did you see that movie about 10 years ago? It was so well done and held a mirror up to American culture in a way that made us see the ugly underbelly of American life. Saying “I loved that film” didn’t feel right, but wow was it ever well done and it had an important message, I think.
J
Starshine, yeah, I saw American Beauty, and it creeped me the hell out. And yes, amazing.
Fiona
Very intense movie….I liked the ‘holding a mirror up’ comment by starshine. That’s what this was like. It was raw, intense and so real. Excellent job all round and it left a mark.
Wanderlust Scarlett
That one was one of the Oscar Noms ‘to be watched’ on my list of ‘to be watched’. I think it’s a true story for a great many people and some came to mind while I was reading your very excellent review.
Depth without giving away the plot. Very well done!!
😀
So glad to visit!
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
apathy lounge
It sounds depressing. Sort of. I think I’ll wait until summer is in full swing.
Karen MEG
I was really looking forward to seeing this when it came out on DVD – can’t believe it’s issued already. The two leads are such amazing actors … I have a feeling the movie might be difficult to watch with my husband, though.