Dir. John Curran, US/Can, 2004, 101 mins
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krouse, Naomi Watts, Sam Charles
Review by Karen Krizanovich
Four top actors – Six Feet Under’s Peter Krause, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts and Laura Dern – co-star in a painful adulterous tale made by fusing together short stories by novelist Andre Dubus.
Ruffalo, our protagonist, heads this all-star line-up in this seeping, intellectual marital drama by director John Curran. Watts, Krause and Dern shore up what could have and should have been a very powerful and insightful look at the stresses and strains of infidelity. Living in a small town, Krause and Ruffalo’s characters have an uneasily masculine relationship – Ruffalo’s Jack feels belittled by his more high-flying, high-minded friend Hank and their competition extends even to going for a friendly job together. The women of each are unsettlingly different: Watts’ character Edith is sensitive, more sensible and slightly more sane than that of her friend Terry (Dern), a woman who can capture more fury than previous suspected. But Curran keeps what should be brought to the fore in these claustrophobic, adulterous friendships at arm’s length. The situation is never allowed to blow out fully or to settle.
There are few moments of humour and even fewer moments of grace, despite the efforts of Watts, whose character has more chances of it any anyone else. Glimpses of searing insight pan out into a shallow, self-satisfied statement about the confines of marriage and the desire for what is perhaps too carnally available. Despite the beauty of the film, the craft of the acting and the sinuous pace, it is ultimately as tale about people whose relationships have turned in on them – and they have only themselves to blame for their problems. This is a cinematic summation of the sign above the AA meeting: “My best thinking got me here.”
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