Married Life Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)March 13th, 2008
MARRIED LIFE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
The deliciously understated MARRIED LIFE is both romantic and subtly surprising. Although the film by director Ira Sachs can't be easily pigeon-holed, you can think of it as a comedy-of-errors murder mystery as Hitchcock might have adapted Thackeray.
Featuring four pitch perfect performances by Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams, the movie literally flies by, making its ninety minutes feel more like thirty.
When we meet Richard Langley (Brosnan), he is meeting Harry Allen (Cooper), his best friend, for lunch. The ever-somber Harry shocks Richard with his announcement. "I'm going to leave Pat because I want to be truly happy." Since Richard has always thought that Pat (Clarkson) and Harry were the perfect married couple, Richard doesn't quite know how to take this almost unbelievable news.
Of course, in such situations, there must be another woman. Harry tells Richard about Kay (McAdams), a woman whom we later learn is a war widow, or at least thinks she is. It's 1949 and Kay's husband was declared officially dead by the Navy in 1947 after being missing for half a decade.
The dead-on set decoration by Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski and Gwendolyn Margetson captures the era accurately and beautifully without overpowering the story with excessive nostalgia. Mahogany paneling and art deco designs are complemented nicely by Peter Deming's warm cinematography with the emphasis on the browns and skin tones.
Even as Harry is describing his love for the lovely and sexy Kay, he appears as if he is suffering from a bad case of ulcers. Complicating this sad man's plans for leaving his wife -- who loves him but who doesn't make him happy enough -- is her view of love. When pressed, Pat says that, for her, "love is sex," with the implication that Harry isn't much in bed. In contrast, Richard has "a different woman every week" -- or so Harry
believes.
The story gets more complicated still when the plain looking Harry asks his dashing friend Richard to look in on Kay, in order to keep her from getting lonely. Of course, anyone who has ever seen a movie knows that this is a recipe for disaster.
>From there the story takes several nice twists and turns, while keeping all of the characters genuine and sympathetic. Dickon Hinchliffe's score for the film is dreamy and just a tad whimsical, setting just the right tone for the narrative.
The ending of the devious and sweet story manages to be both predictable and surprising -- and quite well done, just like the rest of the movie.
MARRIED LIFE runs 1:30. It is rated PG-13 for "some thematic elements and a scene of sexuality" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on March 14, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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