Review of Blue Valentine (2010) by Alejandro C — 18 Feb 2013

Directed by Derek Cianfrance (Brother Tied (1998) and The Place Beyond The Pines (2012)), this is a project that was in development since 2002, but Cianfrance couldn't get the funding for it due to it's content.

But he persevered, didn't give up on it, and got it made in little more than a few weeks for little more than $1 million. It's a powerful drama, with two brilliant leads at it's core. Blue Valentine focuses on a married couple, Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams), who are married with a daughter Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but it's unclear whether Frankie is Dean's daughter, or whether Cindy's previous boyfriend Bobby (Mike Vogel) is the father.

However, Dean and Cindy's marriage has been coming apart at the seams for some time now. The film flashes backwards and forwards between when Dean and Cindy first met, and then 5 years later, when their marriage is on the rocks.

They look at what has caused it to come to this and what they can do to make things right, and they try one last attempt to make their marriage work. It's a stark and graphic look at a marriage failing, it's done with the graphic frankness you would normally expect from Ken Loach.

But it's two leads give very convincing performances, and you see they go through a transformation in the 5 year gap.