Name: Married Life
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Released: 2008
Duration: T1H30M
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams, David Wenham

Trailer

Ira Sachs' film noir relocates British crime novelist John Bingham's 'Five Roundabouts to Heaven' to the Pacific Northwest in the late 40s. Staunchly respectable Harry (Chris Cooper), married to warm and funny Pat (Patricia Clarkson), has been swept off his perch by the much younger Kay (Rachel McAdams). The unworldly Harry confesses to his bachelor friend (Pierce Brosnan), who takes an instant fancy to the luscious young mistress himself.

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]

2008Rating: PG, sexual references90 minsUSA

CrimeDramaRomance

All Reviews (8)

Director:: Ira Sachs ('Forty Shades of Blue')
Writer:: Ira SachsOren Moverman
Cast:: Pierce BrosnanChris CooperPatricia ClarksonRachel McAdamsDavid Wenham

Married Life / Reviews

Flicks, Team

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.

Full review

Vulture

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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Variety

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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Time Magazine

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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Stuff

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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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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New Zealand Herald

A combination of murder thriller and screwball farce is also a gently melancholy rumination on the nature of love.

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Empire Magazine

A quartet of great performances and gorgeous scenery go some way to compensating for some strange variances in tone.

Full review