"In the Bedroom" is a rather unpleasant and very slow film. I guarantee that many folks will not want to watch this film or will give up partway through it. This is because although the movie is exceptionally well made, it's also incredibly sad and its pace is like lead. Now this isn't really a complaint--just some reasonable observations about the film. So, keep this in mind before you decide to watch.
The film begins with a relationship that seems rather irrational and doomed. A married woman with children is getting a divorce. In the meantime, she's having a relationship with a young man who appears to be about 18 or perhaps 19. The woman (Marissa Tomei) is significantly older and the young man is supposed to be going off to college--and his mother (Sissy Spacek) naturally wants the young man to focus on school and not this still-married woman. Soon, the estranged husband returns and begins pressuring the wife to take him back--and he becomes very violent. The wife and the boyfriend are morons--they don't go to the police and the husband's behavior escalates until he murders the young man. All this occurs in the first third of the movie and the rest of the film consists of showing the parents (Spacek and Tom Wilkenson) dealing with their grief. Neither really talks about it and they internalize their pain and become distant from one another. However, rather unexpectedly, the movie takes a very drastic and violent turn at the end--one that is quite satisfying to see but which also is difficult to watch.
It's important to point this out, the portrayals of the parents coping with their grief is incredibly well done and realistic. But who wants to see this? Not most folks. In many ways it reminded me of "Rabbit Hole"--another amazingly well acted film about parental grief that is brilliant but difficult to watch. And, since most folks don't want to be THIS depressed, they're movies you should think twice about before you watch. Exceptional....and unpleasant.
The film begins with a relationship that seems rather irrational and doomed. A married woman with children is getting a divorce. In the meantime, she's having a relationship with a young man who appears to be about 18 or perhaps 19. The woman (Marissa Tomei) is significantly older and the young man is supposed to be going off to college--and his mother (Sissy Spacek) naturally wants the young man to focus on school and not this still-married woman. Soon, the estranged husband returns and begins pressuring the wife to take him back--and he becomes very violent. The wife and the boyfriend are morons--they don't go to the police and the husband's behavior escalates until he murders the young man. All this occurs in the first third of the movie and the rest of the film consists of showing the parents (Spacek and Tom Wilkenson) dealing with their grief. Neither really talks about it and they internalize their pain and become distant from one another. However, rather unexpectedly, the movie takes a very drastic and violent turn at the end--one that is quite satisfying to see but which also is difficult to watch.
It's important to point this out, the portrayals of the parents coping with their grief is incredibly well done and realistic. But who wants to see this? Not most folks. In many ways it reminded me of "Rabbit Hole"--another amazingly well acted film about parental grief that is brilliant but difficult to watch. And, since most folks don't want to be THIS depressed, they're movies you should think twice about before you watch. Exceptional....and unpleasant.