As Harry said as we walked out, "Its not a movie I would want to see again but it's worth buying in case the kids have issues and we can just say 'Have a watch of this'".
2hr 1min - Comedy/Drama - English
Director: David Frankel - Cast: Steve Carell, Meryl Streep,
Tommy Lee Jones,
Although
a devoted couple, 'empty nesters' Kay and Arnold Soames (Meryl Streep and Tommy
Lee Jones) are in need of (in Kay's opinion) help to ignite the spark back into
their marriage. After their 31st wedding anniversary, Kay was left wanting to
spice things up and reconnect with her husband.
For years they have slept in
separate rooms, forgoing any physical affection. Each morning Kay cooks Arnold
breakfast before he trudges off to the accounting firm where he's a partner.
Each night Arnold falls asleep in front of the big flat-screen in the den to
the drone of golf tips. Then wife wakes husband so the two can traipse upstairs
to their separate bedrooms. Kay and Arnold aren't angry with each other, or
unkind: They're just...average middle-class American zombies in a nice
split-level house.
When she hears of a renowned couple's specialist in, she
attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get
on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Kay (who works as a Coldwater Creek
employee) tells Arnold she has paid for
them to undergo a week of intense marriage counseling with Dr. Bernie Feld
(Steve Carell) in the small coastal resort town of Great Hope Springs in Maine.
Arnold, a creature of plodding, unimaginative routine, denies their marriage is
in trouble and resists getting on a plane for a week of marriage therapy.
Just
convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough - the real
challenge comes in sessions with Dr. Feld as they both try to articulate their
feelings, revitalize their relationship, shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to
re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place.
In daily sessions in his office, Dr. Feld counsels them together, each time
asking increasingly frank questions about their sex life and feelings toward
one another. Arnold is angry and defensive, rigidly resistant to change, and
unwilling to see the depth of his wife's disappointment.
Discouraged by
Arnold's recalcitrance, angry and crying, Kay goes alone to a bar where she
vents to the bartendress and learns nobody else is having any sex. Arnold visits
a nautical museum. Back together, they spend the night in the same bed for the
first time in years, and Kay awakes in the morning to find Arnold's arm around
her. At this sign of progress, Dr. Feld urges new measures. They make halting
attempts at intimacy on the bed of their budget motel and again in a movie theatre,
but this time with disastrous results. Arnold finally takes the initiative to
arrange a romantic dinner and a night at a luxury inn, where they attempt to
make love in front of a fireplace, but the grand design fails.
At their final
session, Dr. Feld tells them they've made much progress and should take up
couples therapy back home. But back in Omaha, old habits resume. Kay offers to
pet sit for a fellow employee and packs a bag to stay there, as a first step in
a permanent break with Arnold.
With Kay already in her bedroom, Arnold ascends
the stairs to bed and pauses at her door, but does not knock. Both are shown in
bed trying to sleep. It is Arnold who arises, puts on his bathrobe, and enters
his wife's bedroom. Kay sits up as he sits down beside her and they tenderly
embrace. The lovemaking that follows is warm, natural, and quietly passionate.
The next morning it's clear that the marriage is in a whole new place after
all.
Later that year, as Kay said she fantasized, they renew their wedding vows
on a beach with Dr. Feld present, making promises to be more understanding and
considerate of each other.
The interesting spin off from this movie as it has a small weblink "relationship guide" to some hints to improving a tired marriage.
I saw this last week and thought they handled the subject matter really well.
ReplyDelete