Blue Valentine (2010)

From NetFlix:

Once crazy about each other, Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) have now grown apart. Cindy is bored and disenchanted with her life while Dean languishes in the emotional emptyness of their sexless, routine life in rural Pennsylvania. As they muddle through their marriage, they hearken back to the golden days when life was filled with possibility and romance. Derek Cianfrance writes and directs this drama.

What can be sadder than the dissolution of a once happy marriage ? Expect wonderful acting and real unhappiness.

Ryan Gosling at the time of filming was 30 years old. In his listing in IMDB he racks up 28 appearances beginning when he was 15 years old. Another recent (and chilling) film was All Good Things (2010). In this film I can only assume he captures well the attitudes, mannerisms, speech patterns, and goals of a middle class handyman.

Michelle Williams was also 30 at the time of filming. In Brokeback Mountain (2005) she was Heath Ledger’s wife.

Your comments here are most welcome because I feel I must take sides in this film. As far as I could tell it was Cindy (Michelle Williams) who was disenchanted with the marriage. Dean (Ryan Gosling) seemed to be trying very hard to keep the marriage together while she resisted.

Finally, because there were details of which I was unsure, I offer the following quote from the WikipediaThey rush into marriage after discovering Cindy is pregnant from a previous boyfriend, Bobby (Mike Vogel). Dean agrees to raise Cindy’s daughter, Frankie, as his own. Before the wedding Bobby, unaware of Cindy’s pregnancy, finds and assaults Dean at his job.

Prepare to be unhappy.

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