Scenes from a Marriage  

BLUE VALENTINE
By Clarence L. Donowitz     

  "Blue Valentine" arrived with much anticipated fanfare two weeks ago, but the film conference in Prague did not leave me any time to see it, much less to write about it.  This put me in the unusual position of hearing the film's buzz prior to my review. 
      Hard as I may have tried to close my ears, the winds of opinion blew phrases like "truly original" and "pretentious indie flick" my way, so I was curious to see where I would weigh in.
      If I had to write a tag line for the film, it would be this: "You always hurt the ones you love".  This is the song Dean Pereira (Ryan Gosling) performs for Cindy Heller (Michelle Williams) during the sunrise of their romance and it is as good a metaphor as any for the film.  After the initial shiver of pleasure that all new romancers experience, pain is quick to set in.  Minor disagreements turn into fights and their endless repetition results in a stalemate; this is a relationship that is more like an embattled chess board than an organic give-and-take.
      "Blue Valentine" is the kind of film that major Hollywood studios used to make in the 70s, before they realized there was more money in sharks that terrorize beach communities.  One can see a major studio executive "digging" the concept of a disintegrating marriage told through nonlinear fragments.  Why should the Europeans have all the fun?
      Alas, we live in an era with a sharp division between high budget entertainment and more personal film fare.  Unless you're Quentin Tarantino, nontraditional narrative is exclusively the domain of independent film.  As used in "Blue Valentine", it is not an affectation, but a means by which the film gives us a complete picture of a failing relationship.  Even though the outcome is never truly in doubt (we see latter scenes of arguments before the tender scenes depicting the beginnings of romance), the sacrificed suspense is replaced by a crushing sense of inevitability.  If the hallmark of a good film is showing us a few scenes and giving us a lifetime, "Blue Valentine" succeeds in spades.  The acting is excellent and not the flashy kind that normally translates into an Academy Award.  In the words of a great acting teacher: truly great acting is never awarded, only nominated (Michelle Williams got this far, having been nominated for Best Actress).  And to be sure, this is acting of the highest caliber.  For what can be harder for an actor to act than the inability of a character to take an action?  Cindy wants more from life, but can't articulate what that is.  In the tacky hotel room Dean rents (more a nail in the coffin than a saving grace as far as the marriage is concerned) she asks her husband if he doesn't feel obligated to fulfill his potential. 

 

 

 He's good at a lot of things but can't settle on any one, preferring to paint houses for a living.  He considers the fact that he can drink on the job, a luxury, not an indication of the job's lower status.  Cindy has more upper middle class ambitions.  She is a medical student when we meet her but is later shown as a nurse.  Whether her ambition is thwarted by an unexpected child or her proximity to Dean's earthbound goals is never explained.
      As portrayed by Gosling, Dean is an impulsive man who wears his heart on his sleeve.  His childlike empathy toward others is a touching trait.  His first job as a furniture mover is transporting the belongings of an old man from his residence to a senior citizen home.  Without being prompted, he decorates the new resident's room and puts out his pictures for him.  The elderly man doesn't know what to say to this random act of kindness and neither do we know what to think of it.  It seems misplaced it in the real world, a kind of generosity that is punished more often than rewarded.     Dean's entire being is centered around satisfying his wife emotionally.  This proves more difficult with every passing year.  It is one thing trying to live up to your spouse's expectations, and it is quite another trying to figure out what those expectations are.  That is the main tragedy of this uniquely American domestic drama.  In a world of infinite choices, but with no true role models, how do we decide what it is we truly want?
      The only thing that bothered me about the film was the look.  The pre-marital scenes were shot on Super 16 film stock and the marriage scenes on the digital Red One system, but there is no true difference in appearance.  All of the scenes have an underlit, documentary look, inferior technique masquerading as artistic choice.  What happened to films that are well-written, well-acted and also look great?  Favoring substance over style is always a risky move in a visual medium like film.   Some critics who shall remain nameless saw the film as nothing more than indie glitter.  I couldn't agree less.  "Blue Valentine" displays truthful human behavior and has flashes of insight that is a rarity in today's cinema.  The film ends with a literal display of fireworks, as the couple's fight reaches its crescendo during the Fourth of July celebration.  Maybe I'm reading into it, but the association of freedom with the ending of this relationship is as positive of an ending as I have seen in a down-ending film.