Marriage, Patricia Style
Married Life / Nathaniel Rogers
I am in love with Patty Clarkson. The attraction started innocently and platonically enough. In the beginning I referred to her as Patricia, but before long the familiar “Patty” was adopted, and it felt right. I began to think of her as the perfect moviegoing companion: Some actors we experience movies through (they usually become big stars, our proxy protagonists, the ideal versions of ourselves) and some actors we experience movies with (they’re usually the supporting players, in for the journey with us — sometimes ally, sibling or lover, sometime rival or enemy). As the years have gone by and Patty’s distinctive face and the slight twang of her voice have grown more familiar from High Art (1998) through The Station Agent (2003) and on to Far From Heaven (2004) — she has an enviable filmography — a true romance blossomed. Now every time she’s in a movie, I rejoice. So I approached Married Life with a great deal of excitement. The title seemed so perfect. We’re already married comfortably, you see, as moviegoer and actor. It was 10 years ago that I first fell hard for Patty in High Art. It’s our anniversary!
In Married Life, from writer-director Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue), Patty plays wife and grandmother Pat Allen. She’s married to Harry (Chris Cooper), and both actors are in fine form detailing the mundane comfort and habits of a longtime marriage that is neither terribly passionate nor unhappy. It’s just lived in. If the film were just these two alone and a portrait of a marriage that’s more complicated than it first appears, it’d be a successful movie, if not a particularly exciting one. But Married Life is more than one movie. It’s two or three in one.
The film opens with a kitschy, illustration-filled title sequence and narration, both of which unfortunately bring “Desperate Housewives” to mind. It’s essentially suggesting that you’re about to view a retro comedy. The narration is provided by a dead woman (as in the aforementioned series) but by a friend of the married couples, Richard Langley (Pierce Brosnan), who will eventually get around to mentioning that there will be a dead woman later in the film. Harry has fallen in love with a younger woman, Kay (Rachel McAdams), and decides to spare his wife the pain of divorce by murdering her. It seems perfectly sensible to him — though I think Cooper’s performance (more on that later) misses the joke. (Why anyone would want to murder Patty Clarkson is a mystery you may well spend the rest of your life grappling with should you see the film. Who would?) Richard, Harry’s best friend and a womanizer himself, knows about the affair and is intrigued by Kay. The murder plot he knows of only in retrospect, as the narrator from the omniscient future.
The tone of Richard’s storytelling is serious but winking, suggesting that you’re watching a noir that happens to have a blackly comic premise. The movie that develops from there is neither of those (fully) and more things, too: a treatise on coupling, a melodrama, and a sexual roundelay. It’s all preserved with a reasonably successful 1950s aesthetic, given the limited budget, but it tastes a little odd. The materials it’s made from aren’t exactly inferior, but it still feels thin and weak in construction.
I’m all for hard-to-categorize movies if they work, but Married Life is hit and miss. All four of the principles are fine actors, but the competing tonal demands make for an odd ensemble. Brosnan for his part plays the cad well (though it’s not a stretch) and he understands the comedy, but his narration begins to grate. We spend the most time with cheating husband who agonizes over his poisonous plan, but Cooper’s interpretation is so serious that it tilts the movie quite far toward sober drama, despite the black comedy of the premise. Maybe that’s the intent, since McAdams also goes for a quiet portrait of deep hurt. Frustrated moviegoers still waiting to crown the Canadian beauty as the next bona fide movie sensation should steer clear of this movie. Married Life is but another quick stop on her long Stardom Avoidance tour. She isn’t given much to work with as the nice girl/other woman, a platinum blonde with a sad past. She hints at Kay’s depth and soul, but the other characters and the camera are interested only in her beauty and its ability to hold the frame.
Patty, always a joy to watch, is assigned whatever levity this too-serious comedy can muster. She whips up the right cocktail of sly wit and dark melodrama and serves it with a surprising dose of sensuality — there’s a particularly fresh moment late in the film when she even serves it up in seductive lingerie. Unfortunately, the screenplay’s “gotcha” plot twists work against her game performance. They feel mechanical rather than organic to the material, since her early scenes, particularly one in which she breaks down when she suspects her husband is having an affair, make little sense in retrospect. The screenplay purposefully obscures so that it may later twist. No fair.
Married Life wraps up with a dinner party and an overly tidy conventional ending. I suspect Sachs’ intent is more ambiguous in regards to relationships than the happy “all is well” result, but it feels canned. Even movies that dare to paint dark portraits of the sacred institution can’t resist glorifying it in the end. As for my marriage to Patty, it won’t be wrapping up anytime soon. I’m ready to renew my vows. I only wish that tin, the traditional 10th anniversary wedding gift, weren’t so descriptive of the movie that she’s given to me. Did my beloved have to be so literal?
Nathaniel Rogers is a freelance writer in New York City. He is older than Penelope Cruz and younger than Nicole Kidman but ought never to be confused with Tom Cruise. He blogs daily at The Film Experience.
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Comments
it's a shame that the plot doesn't hold up...i was hoping this would be really good. i'll probably still end up seeing it though, if only for the fact that it has chris cooper and patricia clarkson in it.
Posted by: nona at March 11, 2008 12:03 PM
And when does the fight-til-death for Patricia Clarkson's heart between Nathanial and Socalled kick off? I really want a ring side seat for this one.
Posted by: PaddyDog at March 11, 2008 12:13 PM
Patricia Clarkson is a goddess, I want to put on a flowy dress and sit on a porch listening to her gorgeous Southern lilt on a breezy summer day while drinking mint juleps and listening to Emmylou Harris.
...I have very specific plans for us.
Posted by: Julie at March 11, 2008 12:36 PM
anyone who needs to perfect a southern dialect for a movie shouldn't bother hiring a voice coach...just follow Patty Clarkson around for weeks and work on perfecting that.
Posted by: feramones at March 11, 2008 12:59 PM
I do love Patricia Clarkson. But I'll be seeing this for Cooper. That man is fascinating to watch.
I nominate Matewan for an Un(der)appreciated Gem review.
Posted by: Jerce at March 11, 2008 1:23 PM
I saw the trailer for this movie a while ago and thought that it looked incredibly promising. It makes me a little sad that it doesn't deliver. I might Netflix it just for Patty Clarkson though, to see what Nathanial's on about.
Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at March 11, 2008 1:25 PM
Julie, back away from the Patty with your specifics you...
Posted by: Nathaniel R at March 11, 2008 1:34 PM
I am in love with Patty Clarkson. The attraction started innocently and platonically enough. As the years have gone by . . . a true romance blossomed. It was 10 years ago that I first fell hard for Patty in High Art. It's our anniversary!
Don't make me choke a bitch.
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at March 11, 2008 1:34 PM
I like the idea of this movie....I'm gonna have to check it out. And while I don't have the absolute love for Clarkson that some do...cough cough socalled cough....I do like her and wouldn't mind if she sat on the porch with me and we just talked for awhile...
Posted by: Shadows of Dakaron at March 11, 2008 1:39 PM
Jerce, I totally second that nomination. I was going to suggest it for review myself, or maybe I did already. I forgot. But either way, Matewan is both under-appreciated and a gem. Here here!
Posted by: racheee at March 11, 2008 2:26 PM
Matewan, isn't that a John Sayles flick? I love me some John Sayles. Even without an Un(der)appreciated Gem review, I'm happy to go rent it on just these two recommendations.
Oh, and socalled, you may have ruined me. Those French 75s are far too tasty! If I end up an alcoholic, I'm blaming you (and, well, genetics/family history).
Posted by: tamatha at March 11, 2008 2:54 PM
Socalled & Nathaniel:
Will it be pistols or sabres?
Posted by: PaddyDog at March 11, 2008 3:35 PM
tamatha: Aren't those the bestest? The problem is that the mood strikes me sometimes and I don't have suitable champagne around, otherwise I would drink them more often. Sofia Coppola makes a quasi-split serving of sparkling wine that will work, so I may have solved that problem.
Paddy: I'm a lover, not fighter. All I have in response to this ridiculous preening is a series of questions for "Nathaniel Rogers" (if that's his name -- I hate it when writers here don't go be their real names):
1) Have you ever been on the receiving end of a restraining order from Patricia Clarkson's lawyers?
2) Have you ever experienced the visceral thrill of going within 50 yards of Patricia Clarkson no matter what that meddling judge and sheriff might think about it?
3) Have you ever seen the apprehension in Patricia Clarkson's eyes as you approached and she wondered whether that meddling sheriff was going to prevent two young-as-far-as-you-know lovers from experiencing the bliss of each other's arms? (It was definitely apprehension, not "terror" as the stupid lawyers insisted at the hearing.)
I think I've made my point.
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at March 11, 2008 4:13 PM
if that's his name -- I hate it when writers here don't go be their real names):
Oh, Ted Boynton. How I love irony.
Posted by: insertclevernamehere at March 11, 2008 4:55 PM
paddy it's going to have to be sabres since I fear my Patty would have horrible sense memories connected to the pistols, what with those Nicki Kidman/Dogville nightmares.
socalled
1) lawyers were involved but only for the prenups --after which they skedaddled cuz Patty was anxious to try on that underwear!
2) if by "judge and sheriff" you mean "priest and witness", than yes!
3) What haven't I seen in those windows to her soul?
Posted by: Nathaniel R at March 11, 2008 5:16 PM
Far from heaven => 2002
Posted by: felicio at March 11, 2008 5:37 PM
NR, seems like this adds up to less than the sum of its [actor] parts. Aside from featuring the next ex-Mrs. socalled, i.e. the criminally underused Patricia Clarkson -- have I mentioned that I stalked her at Sundance? -- and Finest Actor Working Today Chris Cooper, I can't find a damn thing wrong with the rest of the cast either. Matador/Tailor of Panama-era Pierce Brosnan? All-that-and-a-bag-of-chips Rachel McAdams? Not to mention: Faramir! Sign me up.
So why haven't I burned a path to the theater yet? Who is this Ira Sachs character, and how did he summon up the prestige to direct all of these people? The producer list is a mile long, and they have a slew of good films to their collective credit . . . but I'm not seeing a common thread.
This should have been a Best Picture contender. WTF?
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at March 11, 2008 6:44 PM
I've since realized that even though I think McAdams is adorable and she's never techinically* given a bad performance, she's never given an especially memorable one. I never remember her, ever. And I remember most attractive young actress- especially the talented ones.
*By technically, I mean that she doesn't royally suck. But I thought she was hokey in Wedding Crashers and The Family Stone. I can't stand anyone in The Notebook. And I think you could've replaced her in Red Eye with a few other actresses who might've done it better- she really couldn't hold her own against Murphy.
Posted by: Jon at March 11, 2008 7:27 PM
McAdams was not "hokey" in The Family Stone. She added the right amount of indignant snarkiness to the picture (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite flicks of the last few years), just as she leavened her bitch character in Mean Girls with a certain amount of decency/humanity. She has the potential to be a great leading lady if someone would just give her the chance.
Posted by: Matt at March 11, 2008 9:54 PM
Matt - You said it! I'm glad I'm not the only one on this sight who actually likes The Family Stone.
socalled - the bestest indeed. I am not as discerning as you, however, and the latest round of French 75s were actually made with Asti (I'm sure that info probably makes you cringe). Those versions simply require a little less syrup. Yes, this does make the fourth night in a row of my new favourite drink. Alcoholism here I come.
Posted by: tamatha at March 11, 2008 11:45 PM
Urgh. That should be site. Damn French 75s.
Posted by: tamatha at March 11, 2008 11:46 PM
Sorry, but I thought everything about The Family Stone was insulting to liberals. It was like being whacked about the head with a hammer for an hour and a half. Definitely one of the worst films she's made.
Posted by: Jon at March 12, 2008 9:22 AM
The great thinker Barnett R. Brickner once said, "Success in a marriage doesn't come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate." The people who find their soul mate are rare and very lucky. But do you think that just to get a soul mate is enough to have a happy married life, I don't think so.
You have to take care of the things mentioned in an article http://www.octanmen.com/articleDetail/364/how-to-have-a-good-fight.htm
Posted by: Garima at April 3, 2008 3:10 AM