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Married Life (2008)
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis: This melodramatic musing on the trials and tribulations of marriage features a small but talented ensemble cast that includes Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper, and Rachel McAdams. Set in 1949, the story opens into a picturesque, affluent suburb where Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) resides... This melodramatic musing on the trials and tribulations of marriage features a small but talented ensemble cast that includes Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper, and Rachel McAdams. Set in 1949, the story opens into a picturesque, affluent suburb where Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) resides with his wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson). But there's trouble brewing beyond the perfect picket fences. Harry has fallen deeply in love with a blonde beauty named Kay (Rachel McAdams). He confesses his secret to his longtime bachelor friend, Richard (Pierce Brosnan), and even introduces Richard to the lovely Kay. Unfortunately for Harry, Richard is instantly smitten, and makes up his mind that he will do whatever it takes to win Kay for himself. Harry, meanwhile, continues to plot ways to escape his marriage, though he fears leaving Pat will destroy her. He soon decides the most humane thing would be to dispose of her the old-fashioned way, with the aid of a little poison. While he debates on when to make his move, we learn that Pat actually has a few secrets of her own. Cooper and Clarkson both give charming, multi-layered performances, expertly revealing the tortured emotions that hide behind their well-mannered 1940s façades. The film's recreation of the era is mesmerizing in its detail, with gorgeous costumes and an elegant set design. MARRIED LIFE has all the ingredients for Hitchcockian thrills, including a delicate blonde bombshell and a methodical murder plot. Yet the film daintily dances between black comedy and noir thriller, leading to a tidy, if rather anticlimactic end. The movie keeps you on your toes, but some might find themselves longing for a bigger payoff by the time the credits roll. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams, David Wenham
Screenwriter: Ira Sachs, Oren Moverman
Producer: Sidney Kimmel, Jawal Nga, Steve Golin, Ira Sachs
Composer: Dickon Hinchliffe
DVD Info
Release:
Nov 30, 1999
DVD Features:
- Region (Unspecified)
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Reviews
It's elegant, unhurried, and, if you meet it half way, softly satisfying ... like the muffled clap of a velvet-covered ring box snapping shut.
I suspect Hitchcock would enjoy watching this slow-churning thriller, which pilfers a few of the master's storytelling tricks as it revels in its own dark heart.
Agreeable, nicely adult entertainment that's satisfying without ever being exciting.
Sachs combines humor, suspense, and twists of plot that keep the ground shifting under our feet.
Dramatizes the notion that a person's 'burden of conscience' is not an innate reality but a malleable construct, motivated by narcissism.
It's as dry as the martinis these well-dressed stiffs keep ordering at that perfectly preserved oak, leather and velvet bar before hopping into their vintage convertibles.
It's best to ignore these scenes from a marriage; stick with Ingmar Bergman instead.
A sly, pitch-black domestic manifesto that's scabrous enough to suggest that if you design your own cage, you'll forget that you're trapped.
Married Life gives new meaning to the phrase, "'til death do us part."
Ultimately, the movie takes its characters, and the absurd ethical dilemma it subjects them to, far too seriously.
It is a nicely executed, skillfully acted and atmospheric exercise in genre stage craft, but so dry and low-key that it is never really involving.
It oscillates between stale period piece and unengaging melodrama, coyly seducing viewers with the potential it fails to fulfill.
Offers audiences movie pleasures, as well as emotionally authentic challenges.
[Brosnan] provides an odd but appropriate balance of laid-back irony and old-fashioned sentimentality that makes Married Life as interesting as married life itself.
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