NICOLE ALBERTSON
Life Editor
Ira Sachs creates a realistic interpretation of complex married relationships with his drama “Married Life,” featuring an all-star cast with Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams. Delving into the complications of relationships in an idealistically simple time set in the 1940’s, Sachs sheds a romantic light on adultery, murder and deception in the best conception of fallen yet sacred love.
Viewed as the perfect married couple, Harry Allen (Cooper) and Pat Allen (Clarkson) live their mundane suburban lives together in a grand house decorated with old family photos and knick-nacks accumulating from their years together. But behind closed doors Harry falls in love with a young, blonde widow, Kay (McAdams), and anxiously waits for the day they can wed. Harry confides in his best friend Richard Langley (Brosnan) as he plans to leave his wife and marry Kay. But instead of forcing Pat to suffer through the emotional pain and social humiliation of a divorce, Harry decides to kill his wife and spare her the impending embarrassment. As Harry’s murderous plan develops, secrets and deception reveal a more terrifying world than Harry could imagine.
This outstanding cast is led by heartbreaking husband Cooper as he portrays Harry, a romantically helpless man stuck between a life of monotony and extravagance. As he struggles to maintain his secret relationship with Kay, Cooper discloses a vulnerability and innocence within his actions and emotional range. Harry bounces back and forth between the strength and integrity of Pat and the nurturing and unstable nature of Kay. While romancing each of his talented co-stars, Cooper brings out different, contradicting characteristics through his interactions with each love. When hosting house parties with Pat, Cooper subtly displays Harry’s depression and loneliness with quiet gestures and unenthusiastic affection. But as Kay enters the room, Cooper feeds off of McAdams’ youthful light and a smile curls at the tips of his lips. His overwhelming joy and excitement to see her brings about his truly vulnerable and ultimate end with his relationships.
Bringing strength and poise to the film, four-time Oscar nominee Clarkson carries out her deceptive actions with clear confidence and ironic honesty. In Pat’s pursuit to portray the perfect wife, Clarkson creates a woman littered with internal secrets and an alternative life in the dark. Her character’s simple complexity echoes the feeling of the 1940’s with internal conflict and outer composure.
While centered around Harry’s struggling married life, the film finds its balance with its other supporting characters, Brosnan and McAdams. McAdams delivers her most sophisticated role yet as a young and confused widow caught between a marriage and friendship. Her vulnerability and weakness are proof to her true talent on screen. Although Brosnan plays an essential role in the plot’s foil, his multiple-talented co-stars outshine his performance. His charming and manipulative character, while far from the likes of James Bond, fails to bring Brosnan to the front of this overwhelming cast. But larger than each individual talent, the film illuminates because of the chemistry and dedication among the cast member.
“Married Life” is a unique interpretation of a married couple because it brings to light the realistic depression and deception that keeps a “perfect couple” together. While each partner explores their secret life to indulge their desires, they come together for each other out of respect and admiration. Although their love has subsided through the years, they remain together because one could not physically live without the other.
Although the audience is left with a feeling of disgust and depression, there is no denying the actors’ talent and the intriguing topic guaranteed to leave every member talking and questioning.
03-27-2008
