The Door in the Floor Review
by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)July 30th, 2004
THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2004 David N. Butterworth
***1/2 (out of ****)
"Specific details." That's what makes a great writer great according to the grizzled Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges), a successful children's author and sometime
pornographic artist speaking to his summer intern Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster) off the coast of Long Island during one hazy Hamptons summer, a summer that will prove pivotal to both men in "The Door in the Floor."
Specific details such as a turn signal blinking with haunting regularity; an unseen racquetball echoing off the deadening walls of a converted barn; a soft pink sweater worn that first day; the color and unambiguous smell of squid
ink and, although we're never quite served a close-up, many bare picture hooks left hanging from many bare walls. By turns it's these specific details that make writer/director Tod Williams's film (based on the best-selling novel "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving and named for one of his protagonist's juvenile
publications) so special.
Minty O'Hare’s 16-year-old son has come to work for Ted at a difficult time. A poseur artiste who pronounces himself "an entertainer of children who also likes to draw" and dresses and undresses with equal abandon, Ted and his longtime wife Marion (Kim Basinger) are separating. "Temporarily" according to Ted, who's initiating the split.
Devastated by the death of their two teenage sons, a resultant near comatose
Marion has abandoned all hope of ever feeling alive again. Ted, partly in response
and partly due to his being Ted, has taken to sleeping with the women he sketches
(a gutsy Mimi Rogers plays his latest subject Mrs. Vaughn) and Eddie, of course,
soon becomes inappropriately infatuated with the fragile, beautiful Marion, beginning with her underwear.
Driving home one night Ted thanks Eddie for being so nice to Marion, and Eddie's guilty expression makes no secret of just how nice he's been to her (and she him). Recognizing this, Ted dutifully grinds Eddie to fine powder (his words) on the racquetball court. The unspoken word often speaks volumes in "The Door in the Floor"; it's a key to the film's peculiar power.
Adapting a voluminous John Irving tome for the screen is never an easy task since the author is well known for complex storylines ripe with richly drawn characters. In tackling Irving's 1998 novel, however, Williams has a distinct advantage since the book is structured as three distinct sections featuring
daughter Ruth (nicely played here by Dakota Fanning's younger sister Elle) and the director elects to adapt the first third only, one that concentrates on the relationship between Ted, Marion, and Eddie. This allows the film to rise above its obvious pitfalls and emerge as a surprisingly intelligent rendition that, in addition, is beautifully photographed and sparingly scored.
Like the better big screen Irvings ("The World According to Garp" and "The
Cider House Rules"), casting proves critical and all employed here are at the top of their game, including Oscar®-worthy performances from Basinger and Bridges
and a none-too-shabby one from Foster (Ben's younger sibling).
I've read the book and the film just feels right. It exquisitely establishes
the time and the place; it paints flawed, troubled individuals with limited coping skills; it's patient, subtle, and restrained, enjoying the specific details
of its own quieter, contemplative moments. And finally it devastates us, much as its protagonists, by the overwhelming power of grief.
--
David N. Butterworth
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