Good film! (spoilers)

This film begins with the perfect family, at least the perfect wife, Cathy. In fact she's so perfect that it gets her into trouble right off the start. She's so nice that she treats her maid and gardener on the same level as anyone else. In doing so she has breached a societal norm which will continue to haunt her throughout the rest of the film.

With grander aims than to be a simple parody, the film focuses on the private life of the family. There's an air of mystery as we watch Frank follow men into a bar after lying about working late. Frank is the first character to collapse and have his weaknesses exposed. Despite his lack of success in coping with his problems, we can see that he really cares about his wife and family by the effort he puts into it.

Cathy is a strong and resilient woman. It's hard to wish her fate upon her as the only crime she has committed is being too nice. We watch as she struggles to cope with Frank, as her fragility slowly creeps to the surface, and as she eventually breaks down.

It's the lowly people who often have deeper insight to provide thanks to their outsider perspective and brooding natures. This is the case with the gardener who is the most rational and judicial character. Cathy's tragic flaw, her overt openness with these people, helps her cope with the situation by confiding in him. Things look bright for the future as we watch the two dancing in the the negro restaurant. They are connecting on a personal level, Cathy is glimpsing his place in society, but will they ever be able to bridge their differences in a personal relationship?

We might have believed so at first, even after Cathy was forced to fire the gardener due to public scandal, but the gardener's daughter's attack really moved him into a plausible position to deny Cathy in the end. On further reflection their relationship was never very feasible to begin with. The gardener is nice to her but Cathy is far too simple-minded and accustomed to a very different quality of life. Their short affair was endearing, but they were doomed to this fate from the start.

This film is a tragedy about the way we are restricted by societal norms and the roles we take either by choice or by birth. We empathize with the characters because we've all experienced this to some degree or another in our own lives. You practically have to drop out of society to avoid maintaining some sort of facade.

Although it contains some subtle and classy parody, it's primarily a drama. Criticism about lack of realism is quite strange as the majority of films don't try to be any more realistic, including, at the lowest end of the spectrum, all soap operas and pop dramas which have no shortage of viewers. I like realism in film but my view is that as long as the film is not presenting trite or shoving lame moral views down the viewer's throat but rather presenting intelligent and thought-provoking themes, the way in which it accomplishes it is of secondary importance.

Superb acting by all the main characters and the story moves along at a perfect pace. Excellently shot with a beautiful use of colors. I can't remember the soundtrack being bad so it probably wasn't as I generally can't stand overwrought soundtracks.

Having only seen "Poison" prior to this, my opinion of Todd Haynes has gone up.



~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~