Blue Valentine

Cannes (Un Certain Regard) – Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are married in Derek Cianfrance's romantic drama about the fall and rise of a relationship. But Emma Rowley finds herself more impressed than affected.

With Williams and Gosling as its leads, and producers Jamie Patrocof and Lynette Howell (Half Nelson) working behind the scenes, Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine has an indie pedigree to kill for. Add to this its heart-warming, heart-breaking story of hipsters falling in and out of love and you have what must be one of the coolest flicks at Cannes. It's a shame then, that it left this reviewer a little cold.

Cindy and Dean seem to have an ideal marriage, with a six-year-old daughter and a home in the suburbs. But before breakfast is over, we realise that something is a little off-key. The disintegration of their relationship is then charted in agonising detail throughout its final 24 hours. Cindy is a doctor, organised and focused. Dean a painter/decorater who drinks before work in the morning and chain-smokes throughout the day. The story of this odd couple's meeting, courtship and wedding is interspersed with the scenes of their break-up.

In the film's opening scene, their dog has got loose and when Cindy finds her dead by the side of the road, it's presented as a dark omen for their marriage. Dean persuades his distressed wife to spend the night with him at a themed motel (in the not-very-futuristic Future Room). En route, they stop at a liquor store where Cindy bumps into an old boyfriend, Bobby Ontario. He has an unexpected significance in her life and she is shaken by the meeting and the feelings it evokes. Exhausted and irritated by her husband's desire for intimacy, Cindy begins to pull away from him, driving him to a frenzied attempt to save their union.

One of the best scenes precedes the couple's first meeting, when Dean has just begun work as a moving man. His crew has to pack up the possessions of an old man and take him to a retirement home. Dean is touched by the man's situation and spends time decorating his room with all of his possessions, sticking his matchbook collection to the wall and hanging up paintings and photographs. It's a brilliant scene that gives the viewer insight into Dean's nature, but such moments of originality are counterpointed by some terrible indie clichés, most notably the wacky first date. This is every bit as painful as you might imagine, with Dean strumming some type of ukulele and Cindy doing a soft-shoe shuffle in a shop doorway, and reciting the names of the 43 presidents (pre-Obama) to a sing-song tune, before they have some laughs at the expense of an uptight taxi driver.

Both the leads bring with them the weight of expectation and both more than deliver, with Williams turning in a fine, understated performance. Gosling's role is a little over-written (an unusual complaint), stuffed with twinkly moments of loveability that unbalance the dynamic of their relationship. Perhaps as Cianfrance has been working on the film for well over a decade, he has wound up identifying too much with his male protagonist and not giving the same care to Cindy. It's as if the fact she's beautiful should be enough for her and for us (a much more usual complaint about romantic roles for women).

This feeds into the film's biggest problem, however, which occurs when the nature of their early relationship is revealed. Was it real love for both parties? If we do not believe it was, then the emotional impact of their break-up is considerably lessened and we may wonder why we're being dragged through so many painful scenes. As things go, by the time their wedding is shown and we know their motivations for marriage, the scene feels hollow and the corresponding moments in their separation are robbed of emotional impact.

With the help of cinematographer Andrij Parekh, the film is beautifully shot on 16mm, with luminous opening scenes that are overtaken by the claustrophobia of the decaying, stifling relationship. Cianfrance is clearly has a bright future in film-making but less insular subject matter would help him to ensure this.

Rating on a scale of 5 overwrought arguments: 2.5

Release date: December 2010
Directed by: Derek Cianfrance
Screenplay by: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne
Cast: Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling, Faith Wladyka, John Doman, Mike Vogel, Marshall Johnson, Jen Jones
Rating: TBD
Running time (mins): 94