Dvd
Married Life
Harry, meanwhile, in order to spare Pat the pain of desertion, has made a solemn decision: as humanely as possible, he will murder her. [Source: NZFF08]
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams, David Wenham
Directed by Ira Sachs ('Forty Shades of Blue')
Written by Ira Sachs, Oren Moverman (based on the novel 'Five Roundabouts to Heaven' by John Bingham)
Drama, Romance, Crime | 1hr 30mins | Rated (PG) | sexual references | Origin: USA
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Flicks review
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Poor old Harry (Chris Cooper) is a nice man propelled to do amazingly stupid things. By contrast, the vapid Richard (Pierce Brosnan) is simply a bachelor dandy and doesn’t hesitate to move in when introduced to Harry’s mistress Kay (Rachel McAdams). While Richard is scheming, Harry is plotting. Convinced that his loyal wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) will be destroyed by their breakup, he lights upon the idea of killing her.
It’s one of life’s little ironies that films about life’s little ironies are dull. Rachel McAdams is absolutely valiant in her attempt to shine in her role, and almost succeeds. The writing is too insubstantial to give her anything to really sink her teeth into, but her effort is palpable. Chris Cooper gives an amazing performance that manages to keep you on his side, even though his intended victim Patricia Clarkson is gorgeous as Pat, wife, mother- ingénue?
Set in 1949, the film is visually perfect. It’s just lacking in drama, and feels uneven. Maybe it’s all a big metaphor. Just as the characters want something to happen in their lives, you want something to happen in the film. Maybe. I don’t think it’s being that smart though. It just feels as though all the interesting kinks have been ironed out. It’s a nice looking example of style over substance, and won’t lose anything by being watched on the small screen.
By Beatrix Coles, Flicks.co.nz
The Peoples voice
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Genre-Busting Movie with Emotional Depth
4
Ira Sach's first 'mainstream' movie is a tour-de-force for all concerned, combining suspense and humour in a way most other films have tried and failed at for years. the Hitchcockian story of a man ( Cooper ) who wishes to leave his sex-obsessed and emotionally frigid wife ( An erotic Clarkson ) for a younger and charmingly vivacious woman ( Innocently played by McAdams ) becomes complex enough when his friend Richard ( Suavely caddish Brosnan) determines to take the younger woman for himself; When Cooper gets the idea that maybe the gentlest way to depart from his wife is by a form of unrequested euthenasia, the drama suddenly comes up a notch - And Brosnan finds more complexity than he bargains for in the relationship as well.
Ultimately a movie that asks how well people, even the most intimate of couples, can ever really understand each other and the secrets they decline to share makes this a future classic along the lines of FAR FROM HEAVEN. Highly recommended.By D F Stuckey
Press Reviews
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Empire Magazine [UK]
A quartet of great performances and gorgeous scenery go some way to compensating for some strange variances in tone.
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New York Magazine
In Married Life, Ira Sachs aims a bit lower than Green but obliterates his target: The funny, the scary, the campy, the sad--they’re all splendidly of a piece.
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NZ Herald [Peter Calder]
4 4 out of 5 stars
A combination of murder thriller and screwball farce is also a gently melancholy rumination on the nature of love.
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San Francisco Chronicle
It's a drama with elements of black comedy and suspense, European in feeling but American in attitude. Just for fun, it's set in 1949, an era of glamour, of Hitchcock and of husbands even more clueless than they are today.
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Stuff.co.nz [Tracey Bond]
3 3 out of 5 stars
The film is filled with motifs from the 40s, the perfectly presented women, the ubiquitous cigarettes, and characters exclaiming "fix yourself a drink" as if a cocktail will solve everything.
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Time Magazine [USA]
More a case history than a devious puzzle, the movie is like a story overheard from the next restaurant booth: for all your curiosity as to how it turns out, you're not likely to have much personal investment in the people.
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Variety [USA]
The tone, casting and material form a less-than-perfect match in Married Life, a period domestic drama that never quite decides if it wants to be a credible marital study, a noirish meller or a sly comedy.
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