Review of The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002) by Laura Z — 08 Feb 2004

A movie about a family man who loves the role of father and husband so much he prefers to outwardly ignore his wife's infidelity in order to keep his world intact. This does not mean, however, that it doesn't eat away at him on the inside, and it is his inner world that provides some of the film's most interesting moments. In addition to envisioning his wife passionately entangled with different partners, he imagines punishing her violently, confronting her directly, even turning the children loose to abuse her.

To help him with his fantasies is his dental patient, a blunt man who is his opposite in terms of communicativeness and aggression. After meeting him at his office and later at a school function where the patient confronts the doctor publicly about a faulty filling, the dentist begins using this direct, loud-mouthed man as a muse to assist him in imagining alternative reactions to his wife's behavior. Sometimes he gives in to the patient's suggestions, other times he ignores them, and until the very end, the outcome remains in question. Finally, the dentist triumphs by staying true to himself, losing the alter-ego for good.

Meanwhile, the wife, also a dentist, meanders through the lives of her husband and children distracted by her extra-marital affair. Her children have a sixth sense about it and all get sick as a result. The youngest acts out by hitting her and yelling for her father whenever her mother tries to hold her. Eventually the whole family becomes ill with a violent flu that acts as a metaphor for their dysfunction, but in the end both the affair and the flu run their course, and the dentist gets his wish without ever having to give his wife the satisfaction of elaborating on her sins.

Viewers who wonder why the dentist wants so much to maintain the status quo in spite of its many disappointments and frustrations need only watch the way he nurtures his children and wife during their illnesses even when he, too, is sick and exhausted. The answer is right there in plain view.