LFF: Blue Valentine – 4*

Where did all the love go? Writer/director Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine is a super sensitive and tragically taunt tale of a marriage that implodes slowly over time, after one of the sweetest wooing moments seem on film in many years involving a ukulele. From the offset it you feel uneasy, that things in the visually idyllic family surroundings are not quite right – and it isn’t just the disappearance of the family pet either.

Cianfrance’s modern romance captures the authenticity (the ups and downs) of a contemporary marriage with stark honesty and clarity that to watch it often leaves you feeling slightly voyeuristic and uncomfortable at times, like an unwilling fly on the wall to events spiralling out of control. It’s a perfect cinematic example of a wonderful script, good directing and ingenious casting.

The partnership of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams is a mesmerising one as husband and wife, Dean and Cindy, who have a little girl called Frankie (film newcomer Faith Wladyka). The reason this ‘family’ are so believable on screen is Cianfrance had them living as a unit in the same house for a couple of months – even sharing birthdays, before filming commenced. As they say, practice makes perfect, and the filmmaker’s preparation obviously paid off.

The quality of the acting makes it heartbreaking to see the couple disintegrate, and the power of the final attempt at reconciliation at in themed hotel room draws on every emotion from the viewer, from humour to disgust. This film has been vilified for Cindy’s erratic sexual activity in that moment, but you can almost understand where her self-destructive, almost sadomasochistic nature comes from as she tries in vain to find love, after growing up a sterile home life of past. It’s as though she won’t allow happiness in her life, or needs punishment for doing so. Williams’ character, alone, is a fascinatingly dark and complex one that leaves you questioning just who the real Cindy is?

Neither party is without fault, and Gosling as Dean has a temper, which surfaces towards the end, putting the final nail in the coffin of the relationship, even after a pathetic attempt at another chance. It’s a combination of years of pent up frustration at losing control over his family and it’s as raw to watch as it probably was for the stars to act.

The film seems to punish working-class Dean for being a romantic and falling for college girl Cindy. Like a latter-day Romeo and Juliet, their love is doomed from the start. His lack of drive surfaces later on, as everyday life means putting food on the table, over his dreams. It’s certainly a brutal depiction of life after the honeymoon period is over.

In the end, the film suggests that passion alone cannot save a marriage – could even the class-orientated out there be right that chalk and cheese cannot mix? Blue Valentine throws up many questions that are only addressed after the film is over because the leads’ performances are so astoundingly captivating to watch. The only niggling criticism is some of the jumping back and forth in time feels slightly confusing; whether it’s deliberate to disorientate us as to when the cracks begin to appear is unclear? Even for a non-linear storyline, it sometimes jars the viewing experience. However, on the whole, Cianfrance’s drama is truly magnificent and deserves Academy Award recognition for Williams and Gosling’s performances alone.

4/5 stars

By L G-K