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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Married Life Stars: Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clark, Rachel McAdams and David Wenham Director: Ira Sachs Scriptwriters: Ira Sachs and Oren Moveman Sony Pictures Classics Rating: PG 13 Running Length: 91 minutes www.Sony.com Director/writer Ira Sachs and Oren Moveman have come up with a script that has faint echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone. A married couple who seemingly dote on each other (Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson) actually have flaws. Their single friend, Pierce Brosnan, is so much a part of this couple that he has a room in their summer place, where he can pop in at any time. It is the late-Fifties, and a life where sipping whiskey before a fireplace is the epitome of an evening at home, plus women still wear dresses just about everywhere. The term “upper crust” comes to mind. Enter someone not of this circle, Rachel McAdams as a younger woman, and you have a problem, which descends into many little problems. Chris and Patricia seem to be an ideal couple. Watch their body language, though, especially Clarkson’s as she reels in those emotions until you think the facade would crack at a whisper. Brosnan is both narrator and observer as he details what happens to his friend, Chris, when another woman (McAdams) comes into their company. Pierce hasn’t married as he is too busy chasing any female that moves, however, when he is discretely introduced to McAdams, he falters. The chase is on, but the quarry is so, well, chaste, that Pierce begins to fall. In the meantime, Chris decides the best way to keep his lovely wife from being broken at the thought of his affair, is to kill her, gently, of course. Then the film veers into planning a murder and, with Hitchcock moments, finding what goes right and what goes wrong. All done properly and with the politeness of an English parlour. Chris Cooper, who is often seen in espionage and war films, does a well-married husband rather gruffly. Comparing him to the suave Brosnan is like comparing corn-fed beef to bangers. You can accept Brosnan, but it takes some doing---and doesn’t succeed half the time---to get used to Cooper in a genteel role. Patricia Clarkson walks away with her scenes as the wife who coddles her husband. Here are manners that sparkle. Sparkling manners are what Rachel McAdams has, too, as a young widow, but her acting is like watching a statue try to move. The stiffness is only too apparent. What Cooper and Brosnan see in her is beyond me. As portrayed by McAdams, marble would seem warm. All in all, Married Life is a look at what sometimes happens when two people are together for a long period of time. They, literally, grow on each other. It’s a comfortable existence and comfort can be a easy state of mind to remain in. Perhaps, this is what attracts Brosnan to being part of a couple, “none of us are getting any younger,” and the chase gets harder each year. I thought Married Life began resembling what film auteurs like to call “film noir,” but half-way through it was more like film snore. A change of mind in Chris Cooper’s character from complacency to murder, brought life to the last half. Set design and automobiles are nicely of the 1950’s which adds to the film. On the other hand, many of the scenes are set in one room, so you may think the story was a play, first, as it has a claustrophobic effect. All the characters were dressed well, especially Clarkson, but McAdams’ vibrant red lipstick stole from her character. She resembled Madonna and you expected her to break into song. Married Life would have made a little gem of a film with a recast of the McAdams character. As it stands, the story is dimmer than necessary. Copyright 2008 Marie Asner

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Married Life

Stars: Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clark, Rachel McAdams and David Wenham
Director: Ira Sachs
Scriptwriters: Ira Sachs and Oren Moveman
Sony Pictures Classics
Rating: PG 13
Running Length: 91 minutes
www.Sony.com

Director/writer Ira Sachs and Oren Moveman have come up with a script that has faint echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone. A married couple who seemingly dote on each other (Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson) actually have flaws. Their single friend, Pierce Brosnan, is so much a part of this couple that he has a room in their summer place, where he can pop in at any time. It is the late-Fifties, and a life where sipping whiskey before a fireplace is the epitome of an evening at home, plus women still wear dresses just about everywhere. The term “upper crust” comes to mind. Enter someone not of this circle, Rachel McAdams as a younger woman, and you have a problem, which descends into many little problems.

Chris and Patricia seem to be an ideal couple. Watch their body language, though, especially Clarkson’s as she reels in those emotions until you think the facade would crack at a whisper. Brosnan is both narrator and observer as he details what happens to his friend, Chris, when another woman (McAdams) comes into their company. Pierce hasn’t married as he is too busy chasing any female that moves, however, when he is discretely introduced to McAdams, he falters. The chase is on, but the quarry is so, well, chaste, that Pierce begins to fall. In the meantime, Chris decides the best way to keep his lovely wife from being broken at the thought of his affair, is to kill her, gently, of course. Then the film veers into planning a murder and, with Hitchcock moments, finding what goes right and what goes wrong. All done properly and with the politeness of an English parlour.

Chris Cooper, who is often seen in espionage and war films, does a well-married husband rather gruffly. Comparing him to the suave Brosnan is like comparing corn-fed beef to bangers. You can accept Brosnan, but it takes some doing---and doesn’t succeed half the time---to get used to Cooper in a genteel role. Patricia Clarkson walks away with her scenes as the wife who coddles her husband. Here are manners that sparkle. Sparkling manners are what Rachel McAdams has, too, as a young widow, but her acting is like watching a statue try to move. The stiffness is only too apparent. What Cooper and Brosnan see in her is beyond me. As portrayed by McAdams, marble would seem warm.

All in all, Married Life is a look at what sometimes happens when two people are together for a long period of time. They, literally, grow on each other. It’s a comfortable existence and comfort can be a easy state of mind to remain in. Perhaps, this is what attracts Brosnan to being part of a couple, “none of us are getting any younger,” and the chase gets harder each year.

I thought Married Life began resembling what film auteurs like to call “film noir,” but half-way through it was more like film snore. A change of mind in Chris Cooper’s character from complacency to murder, brought life to the last half. Set design and automobiles are nicely of the 1950’s which adds to the film. On the other hand, many of the scenes are set in one room, so you may think the story was a play, first, as it has a claustrophobic effect. All the characters were dressed well, especially Clarkson, but McAdams’ vibrant red lipstick stole from her character. She resembled Madonna and you expected her to break into song. Married Life would have made a little gem of a film with a recast of the McAdams character. As it stands, the story is dimmer than necessary.

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