Film Reviews

Blue Valentine

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Michelle Williams
• Details: US/111mins 16

Unrelenting in its bleak and ponderous depiction of a fractured relationship, this Oscar contender offers up two very fine actors giving raw, uncompromising performances. The film isn't perfect and is at times tough to sit through, but it is admirable in its real, unfiltered look at how painful the ending of a relationship can be. Co-writer and director Derek Cianfrance does a brilliant job of making his camera feel like a fly on the wall in these peoples' lives.
Set in the present day, where Gosling's Dean and Williams's Cindy have a young daughter, the film sporadically flashes back to introduce us to the characters when they were five years younger, and then to them meeting for the first time and ultimately falling in love. At first, Dean wears his heart on his sleeve whilst pursuing the love of his life, and then as their marriage crumbles. Cindy, meanwhile, is the relationship's pragmatist, but she's also a strangely vacant personality.
Blue Valentine is one of those films that you could never really say you've enjoyed. There's no violence or anything that should really offend anyone, but the cold hard truths dished out between these two people are certain to resonate uncomfortably with certain viewers. Cianfrance never goes into massive depth about his characters' backgrounds; we're briefly privy to the difficulty of Cindy's homelife, while one sentence uttered by Dean speaks volumes about his. Those subtleties are a large part of what makes the film so emotionally charged. These two people have forgotten how to communicate; they were never going to sit down and talk it out like adults.
Gosling completely immerses himself in Dean. You get the impression, with most of his characters, that he doesn't just switch off at the end of a take, and his work here is just as honest and committed as you'd expect. He is not instantly likeable or charming, but nor is Cindy; you see things from her point of view, and then equally from his. Gosling smartly plays his guy as bit too abrasive, emotionally engulfing and visceral, but also shows him as a wonderful father and generally nice human being. Cindy may have been in love once, but it feels like part of their relationship was based on her predicament at the time, rather than out-and-out love. She has struggled most of her life despite her looks, and Williams is equally as home portraying that 'lost soul' aspect of her character.
Cianfrance's twelve year-long struggle to get a deeply personal passion project made has paid off - Blue Valentine is a difficult, but very brave film.

Review by Mike Sheridan