Review of Rabbit Hole (2010) by Joel M — 03 May 2011

The first ten minutes of this achingly beautiful film are slow and confusing, loaded with blurry images and painful subtext. That's on purpose, because is how life is after a devastating tragedy rips your heart out.

Kidman and Eckhart are a couple trying to piece their lives back together eight months after losing their 4-year-old boy. Grief counseling doesn't work, with its childish platitudes about "God needing another angel." Family doesn't comfort; sister Blanchard is a delinquent, and Mom (the dowdy and brilliant Wiest) keeps comparing her daughter's loss to her own. Kidman finds no solace, not even in bonding with a local teen involved in the accident (wonderfully underplayed by Teller). In fact, nothing fits - no guide, no rule, no map - because Rabbit Hole knows that everyone's grieving is unique.

First-time screenwriter David Lyndsay-Abaire creates an astounding adaptation of his own gently humorous and touching play. Director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) leads with delicacy and insight. In fact, Rabbit Hole benefits from understated performances all around.