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In the Bedroom
****
Cinema Releases - March 8, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 130
minutes. Directed by Todd Field. Written by Robert Festinger, Todd Field;
based on the story "Killings" by Andre Dubus. Starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy
Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother, William Wise, Celia
Weston.
"In the Bedroom" opens with the
beautiful image of lovers running through tall grass on a summer day. They
chase each other, throw themselves onto the ground, savour each other's wet
lips, bask in the dew and sunlight.
The girl is played by Marisa Tomei, the guy by
Nick Stahl, and we're thinking that perhaps he's a little too young for his
companion. Stahl's parents, played by Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek, wonder
aloud whether the relationship is such a good idea -- the Tomei character
is in her late twenties, with a son and an ex-husband who seems unapproachable
if not quite nasty; Stahl is preparing to go to college and study architecture,
and it would be unwise to get carried away in a relationship too advanced
for him. He says it's only a bit of fun -- Wilkinson, as fathers usually
do, says that he knows what he's doing; Spacek, as mothers usually do, says
that she can't help being unsure.
It didn't occur to me while watching it, because
I was too involved to think about it, but the interesting thing about all
this is that we can't tell what's going to happen. Most movies, even good
ones, have a certain feel about them that lets us know what journeys their
characters and plots will be taking. "In the Bedroom" is not like that; there's
a natural atmosphere to it, with scenes inhabited by real-life tensions such
as the unease that looms over a room when someone unwelcome arrives or a
conversation becomes unsure.
The film sets up its very specific and emotionally
complex dramatic situation in a very involving way... and then something
happens. Something sudden, needless and infuriating that I will not reveal,
that we're not expecting, that we don't think can happen in this ordinary
setting -- not because such things don't happen in ordinary settings, but
because most of us are lucky enough to never face them.
There are long stretches of spoken and unspoken
anguish, beginning a steady descent that leads Spacek and Wilkinson down
a hellish path -- the place their characters go could have come across like
a "Death Wish"-style promotion of vigilantism, but instead feels numb and
bitter, because the kind of frustration they're feeling cannot be solved
by anything, not even violence.
The second half of "In the Bedroom" contains little
dialogue, but we barely register the fact, because emotions below the surface
are made devastatingly clear. It's like walking into a room and instantly
gauging the mood -- not because people are talking about what they're feeling
or even letting us know through facial expression, but because of imperceptibles
of body language. The director, Todd Field, reminds us of what has been lost
through incidental visual elements, and the actors show what their characters
are feeling just by meditating on it and letting it shine through. Somehow
the thoughts in the air are communicated directly and specifically, all by
way of subtle movements and ways of sitting around that you'd think would
be subject to interpretation.
Field is an actor himself, which somewhat helps
to explain how well he has handled his cast, but nonetheless it took a lot
of courage to make a movie so full of silence for his feature debut. "In
the Bedroom" could have been a stolid and confusing mess; instead it is a
film of tremendous power without a single obvious trick.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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