Review: Blue Valentine

A film charting the disintegration of a marriage between laidback wannabe artist Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. We see them in their more jovial courting phase as well as the dissolution of their marriage as the characters enter their midlife period (or at least their 30s. She’s closed-off and dissatisfied with how things have turned out and what he has become. Maybe she should’ve stayed with her old flame, played by Mike Vogel. Gosling has taken to drink, treats their kid as a playmate, and is fairly content with his modest existence as a house painter, a supportive husband to Williams, and doting father of their kid. He’ll do anything to make it work, but for Williams it’s just not working.

I have to say that I’m not quite as enamoured with this 2010 rise and fall of a marriage from director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance as other people seem to be. But this is definitely a better-than-average film that many people out there will get something really meaningful and resonating out of. Maybe at a later stage in my life, I too will get that resonance, but I can still admire the film nonetheless. It’s alarmingly predictable, but the issues going on here are still interesting and seemingly real. It’s also not as unrelentingly bleak as the overrated “Revolutionary Road” (the closest comparison I can think of), which I found unbearable. This is real and raw, but also pretty palatable, which is important if I’m going to be taking the journey too. The film adopts a flashback/flash-forward structure, but it’s not as fatal as the fragmented approach in “Revolutionary Road”. We actually do get to know these characters and understand and appreciate what is going on here. Although a bit confusing, the structure is also probably necessary because we need to see the beginning and decline of the marriage. It robs us of much of what’s in between, but it’s preferable to the choppy and fragmented narrative of “Revolutionary Road” where we’re constantly dipping in and out of their lives without ever being allowed to really get to know them.

The performances in this are just about everything, because the plot is as simple as it gets. Ryan Gosling has a kind of douchy charm (he even plays the ukulele!) in this film that is perfect for a film about a doomed marriage. In the present day scenes he’s believable too because he still projects that douchy, flaky quality, only slightly older. He’s like a big kid, something that many people are going to identify with. Here’s a guy that’s able to relate to his kids, but perhaps isn’t able to be grown-up enough to be responsible for them. I can see his charm but also how such a character would get annoying to live with after a few years. Gosling isn’t the most dynamic of actors, but he’s seemingly pretty natural and authentic in the role. Michelle Williams has always had talent, but she’s come a long way since her early days on “Dawson’s Creek”. She’s excellent here in conveying her character’s unhappiness in her marriage. She also tells the most absolutely inappropriate joke of all-time. It’s a crap joke, but so inappropriate that it somehow ends up being funny (I won’t spoil it).

I’ve heard some people say that the film is really balanced and you don’t take sides, but just as was the case with “Kramer vs. Kramer” (I loathed Meryl Streep’s flaky character in that. You don’t have a kid and then decide you need to ‘find yourself’), I did take sides. Williams is such a good actress that she’s able to convey to the audience that something is going on in her head that is clearly causing her problems, but on the evidence presented in the film, I felt more sympathy for Gosling. He was a good and loving husband, and a loving dad, whilst Williams’ character shows a selfish side, even in bed. She also could’ve and should’ve voiced any concerns long beforehand (We only see the beginning and end, so perhaps she did. Unlikely, though), and she treats him like crap, particularly in the hotel room scene. He’s well-meaning, loving, and perfectly reasonable, she’s emotionally closed-off, selfish and not very reasonable. Understandable, but not reasonable or entirely sympathetic. His only real flaws are that he’s too sensitive for her and he lacks ambition. She needs a man, not a boy. I personally don’t think that’s fair. He just wanted to love her for the rest of their lives, that was enough for him and there’s nothing wrong with that in my opinion. That’s not a criticism of the film, however, as giving us more details as to how Williams got to be the way she is would require a much longer, and less endurable film. I would love to know which side of the fence female viewers end up on, I must say.

The shaky-cam was barely noticeable to me, but as usual I have to say it still doesn’t add realism, just artifice. Even more annoying is the scenes involving someone on the toilet. Everyone poops and pees but at no point in the history of cinema has seeing someone poop or pee ever been necessary, outside of a joke. It’s a stupid thing that really needs to be retired.

I think this film is a bit overrated and predictable, but there’s some really strong acting and it’s certainly grounded and raw. I perhaps admire it more than I liked it. The director wrote the screenplay with Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis. It’s obviously a very personal film for the director, because he apparently had been working on the screenplay for 12 years. My only real carp with it (aside from predictability) is that the ending isn’t as clear as it could’ve and should’ve been. I’m sure this was intentional, but that doesn’t make it satisfying.

Rating: B-