Review of Married Life (2008) by Charles T — 17 Nov 2008

This film is one that has me confused about how to rate it exactly. My emotions get in the way of how I rate the technical stuff. The basic premise of the film is a Harry (Chris Cooper) is unhappy with his marriage, because all his wife enjoys in it is sex, strange guy right? Well he wants more. He finds a mistress in Rachel McAdam's character. He makes the unfortunate mistake of telling his best friend/ playboy Richard (Pierce Brosnan) about his mistress. Chris wants out of the marriage but he can't stand to see his wife suffer. Each have their secrets from one another, each has their own goals, no one is entirely innocent and no one is entirely bad. You get why they are the way they are, but you learn a lot about yourself by who you side with. One word to describe the overall film: depressing. It's not as depressing as say films like "Requiem for a Dream" or "Happiness" but it's depression is found in the dramatic irony of the film. After the first ten minutes of the film, you can basically guess how the film unfolds but the drama is found in seeing it happen regardless of how hard the characters try to stop it, with and without knowledge of their downfall.

It's hard to pick just one theme out of this film, there are numerous, intended or not intended, mostly depressing. It deals with morales, ethics, right and wrong, fate, and personal gain. But it's hugest theme, which I don't agree with, is that in reality things will always happen that suck, so you need to give up on trying for happiness and force yourself to move on.

In the technical stand point everything is great, the acting is great. Chris Cooper is a tremendous actor, bringing into the film great vulnerability which in turns leads to believability in the plan that he concocts.

The direction and production design is very simple, letting the story and the characters be the center focus of everything.

If I had to pick one thing that stands out above all else it would be the theme of the film. Usually in a film a theme is found interlaced, in different keys or speeds to note the different colors of each scene in the film but connecting them together with that melody. This film has one song, the same key, over and over again in the film. Usually this is the sign of a amateur composer or one who was poorly paid, in this case, it plays perfectly to everything in the film, and within the music you can find the different colors of each character, the pace of each beat necessary, and it isn't until the ending credits begin that you get the percussion, which to me was a masterful way of ending the movie. The music it self seemed to be a movie that reached it's climax at the end, leaving me with a sense of coldness. It kind of cuts you off but reminds you of what you just went through.

I wouldn't recommend this film on a rainy day.