Blue Valentine - Raw and Brilliant

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are brilliant in, Blue Valentine, which is a raw and emotional story of a young couple’s relationship from the euphoria of first love to the realities and hardships of married life.

Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) are struggling through a crumbling marriage for the sake of their young daughter Frankie. He is a chain-smoking, drink-abusing house painter, who has no dreams in life aside being a loving husband and father; she is an ambitious, hard-working nurse who once dreamed of being a doctor, and is beginning to regret the compromises she has made in life. Numerous flashbacks reveal the couple in their younger days, and it is heartbreaking to see the contrast. Dean is a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding ‘the one’, and he falls head over heels for Cindy when they meet in an old folks’ home; yet, just a few years later, they can barely look at one another. The film skips from the giddy romance and happiness of the early days to the resentment and disillusionment of the present day, where the couple try to rekindle old feelings in a tacky love-motel.

Director Derek Cianfrance made the actors film take after take after take of the ‘present day’ scenes, and the frustration and weariness really comes across in the performances. In contrast, the early scenes were done mostly in one take, and as a result they are fresh and natural, a welcome release from the tension. It really is gut-wrenching watching the relationship founder, as the bond formed between the two in the earlier scenes is so touching and authentic. In particular, the scene where Cindy tap-dances while Dean sings for her is beautiful. Gosling and Williams throw themselves into the roles, and their performances are brilliantly raw and wholly convincing. Williams has proven time and time again her ability to express both grief and defiance in a single glance, while Gosling’s appeal is that he can be strangely child-like, yet still conveys the anger and violence that Dean struggles to keep in check. It is a shame that the Oscars have chosen only to recognise Williams’ performance, as both leads are equally deserving of a nomination.

The soundtrack compliments the performances perfectly, rippling with pretty melodies from the band Grizzly Bear, the song adopted by the couple as their own – “You and Me” by Penny and the Quarters – and Gosling’s “goofy” version of “You Always Hurt the Ones You Love” by the Mills Brothers.

Blue Valentine is a terribly sad and poignant film, depicting with tender sorrow the fragility of love. It mourns the couple’s broken marriage but does not place blame, suggesting that falling out of love is just as unexplainable as falling in love.

CMD