Hope Springs

Harry and I went and saw a movie at the end of our anniversary weekend away - Hope Springs. One would wonder why a couple on their anniversary would choose this movie but it was a fun good feel movie and although cute long was certainly one that was a film I am pleased we did see.
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.