MARRIED LIFE (M)

Director:
Ira Sachs

Starring:
Pierce Brosnan
Chris Cooper
Patricia Clarkson
Rachel McAdams

Plot Summary:
Harry decides he must kill his wife Pat because he loves her too much to let her suffer when he leaves her. Harry and his much-younger girlfriend Kay are head over heels in love, but his best friend Richard wants to win Kay for himself. As Harry implements his awkward plans for murdering his wife, the other characters are occupied with their own deceptions. Like Harry, they are overwhelmed by their passions, but still struggle to avoid hurting others.

Genre:
Drama

Duration:
1 Hour 30 Minutes

Origin:
U.S.A.

Language:
English

Reviews:

Review by Margaret Pomeranz
****4 STARS.

The simple, straightforward title of the film MARRIED LIFE has intimations that more is going on in the marriage of Harry, (CHRIS COOPER) and Pat, (PATRICIA CLARKSON), than appears on the surface.

The year is 1949, and Harry confides over lunch to his friend Richard, (PIERCE BROSNAN), who is a notorious lothario, that he has fallen in love and he’s going to leave Pat because he wants to be truly happy. When Kay, (RACHEL McADAMS), arrives Richard understands why.

Harry, for some monumentally egocentric reason, decides that Pat would rather be dead than face life without him and so he decides to kill her.

With shades of Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock this rather quaint piece of cinema by co-writer/director Ira Sachs is both intriguing and ultimately really moving.

The complicated betrayals are delicately handled in a surprisingly non-Moralistic way. CHRIS COOPER, an actor for whom the word dour might have been invented, is a really interesting piece of casting, and a brilliant one.

You have to believe the significance of Kay in Harry’s life and his opting for homicide as a merciful act. Cooper achieves both beautifully.

PIERCE BROSMAN is perhaps the odd one in this mix but he’s actually perfect as Richard, who narrates the film with a wry knowingness. And the two women, CLARKSON and McADAMS, are just splendid


REVIEW BY Andrew L. Urban @ URBAN CINEFILE.

MARRIED LIFE is an ode to Hollywood movies of the 40s and 50s, with its rich story, its post-war middle class mores of US society, its production design and its characters blundering around a moral dilemma.

Chris Cooper is surprisingly effective in a role I would not have picked for him, but then casting against type is always a risk worth taking. Pierce Brosnan is excellent.... Rachel McAdam is visually right.....Patricia Clarkson is superb as Pat, the loving wife with a secret.

In many ways this is a connoisseur’s film, lovingly made, with a fabulous soundtrack (if you like 40s jazz and high class pop) and some terrific scenes.

Trailer: