We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004)
As a gay man now in his 40's (shhhh
don't tell anyone), I have spent much of my adult
life watching my heterosexual friends, male and female,
give up all their freedom, all their personality,
and all their privacy to marriage and children. It's
a decision that I as a person simply cannot understand.
Perhaps I am selfish. Perhaps I am egotistical. Perhaps
I am lucky. Perhaps I am smart. Maybe I am just fortunate
to be gay.
For me, this sacrifice that "breeders"
make was paramount to the themes in "We Don't Live
Here Anymore," an ensemble drama about married life,
rearing children and fidelity that shows just how
complex and difficult interpersonal sexual relationships
can be to maintain. Based on two short stories by
Andre Dubus, one of which is called "Adultery," the
film exposes the underlying issues related to sexuality
and commitment in marriage and finds many tangential
issues creeping into the mix. The story of two married
couples here, each involved in the other's lives through
friendship and, eventually, sexual liaisons, makes
for compelling viewing with many thought-provoking
incidents to incite the audiences imagination explored.
"Even adultery has a morality to it," Laura Dern tells
her husband, Mark Ruffalo, here. This is just one
of the thoughts going through our head as we watch
their unusually congealed marriage unfold.
Dern is a powerhouse here providing
one of the most compelling middle-aged female characters
to grace an independent film in quite some time. Her
work here is simply awesome. Of course, she's supporting
Ruffalo, Naomi Watts and Peter Krause, as much as
they are supporting her and the effect is mesmerizing.
Watching these fascinating, commanding, and consummate
actors grapple with this film's dense themes and weighty
heterosexual relationship issues through the well-written
dialogue (scripted by Larry Gross, presumably not
the one of "Junk Food Junkie" fame but you never know)
of the film is always captivating. This is perhaps
the most complex and yet perfectly integrated ensembles
working together in a film in 2004. The talents of
each of the thespians involved only serves to accentuate
those of their co-stars and allow the others to shine
even more brightly.
The film is perhaps the most beautifully
lensed feature of the year. Under the direction of
John Curran, cinematographer Maryse Alberti creates
a dank and dreary film through images that are somehow
never moody or depressing. Lush, arid and intense,
the film can also seem claustrophobic, dense and compressed
at times. The images here continually bring the film
into a more cohesive whole and serve to accentuate
the complex story we are witnessing.
While "We Don't Live Here Anymore"
is an interesting treatise on marriage and modern
relationships, it must be said that the film is told
from a decidedly male angle. With its characters intelligent,
articulate and intense, the film's detachment from
sentimentality and emotion often leave the viewer
feeling as cold and dispassionate as the characters
seem.
Notes:
Score by Michael Covertino.
Gross, Ruffalo and Watts are also
credited as producers.
Gross won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting
Award at Sundance in 2004, where the film premiered.
Filmed in Canada.
Viewed in Austin in September, 2004.
