Blue Valentine

Some love stories endear, some pull heartstrings—others, like “Blue Valentine,” do both. Derek Cianfrance’s Cannes Un Certain Regard film, twelve years in the making, tells a story of two lovers very much imperfect and in that sense real, rather than embellished or affected. And he succeeds incredibly.

Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams), a middle-aged married couple, live in a modest Pennsylvania home. They have a daughter, Frankie, and a dog, Megan, but Megan is missing from the start. Dean and Cindy endure a typical but cataclysmic “lost dog” struggle to find her. Their very normal activities of printing out posters, searching and ultimately finding Megan dead beside the road reveal the tension and stress that already exist between the couple. It also provokes the question of what and what not to tell their daughter when she asks what has happened. Dean’s answer, that Megan has moved to Hollywood to become a movie dog, comically and optimistically diverges from reality in the same sense that the couple’s relationship before their daughter does.

Grieving Megan’s death and conscious of the seemingly grave future of their marriage, Cindy and Dean drop their daughter with her grandfather and travel to a cheesy hotel for a night of intimacy to try and save what love they still have for one another. Cindy runs into an ex-lover at a gas station on the way there, and the news of the encounter angers Dean enough to provoke a flashback that partially explains why.

Crosscut with images of the present, these flashbacks to Cindy and Dean’s young adulthood, meeting in Brooklyn and eventual romantic bliss contrast the crisis which they presently face. In a sense, they save the film—without them, the marital bleakness would be so upsetting to endure that the film couldn’t possibly end in a hopeful tone. Cianfrance also places these flashbacks in such a gorgeous temporal structure that, despite the somewhat tried theme of failed marriage, gives “Blue Valentine” an air of novelty truly enjoyable to watch and discover throughout.

The sticky summer romance of youth flashes forward, somewhat regrettably, to the appropriately windowless “future room.” Bathed in blue tones and fluorescent lighting, the themed sex suite in which the couple stays appears as artificial as their attempted escape from their own lives. They dance with one another to their song in perhaps the tenderest moment of the film, but the snippet of optimism soon fades. The two drink to forget about the problems they face outside the room’s metal-plated encasing, but instead of booze-induced attraction, Cindy reacts with a loveless violence that progresses until a climactic moment the next day.

And as the flashbacks continue, the dynamism of the couple’s feelings for one another and their familial relationships develops. The viewer realizes that love does exist between Cindy and Dean, but it is so buried beneath the complexities of their opinions about love and the examples of marriage set before them that it just may be too deep to redeem. It’s not something fun to witness, but it’s so genuinely heart-wrenching that the viewer can only root for the couple’s uncertain future to work itself out. Therein lie the beauty and the thematic integrity of the film.

In one flashback scene, a handheld shot chases Cindy and Dean as they hold up a sign that asks the viewer, “Is this you?” This blatant structural leave would seem clichéd rather than poignant if it weren’t for Willams’ and Gosling’s raw and relatable performances that build within the film. Gosling shows nuances of which even he seems unaware in his acting. His fingers shake in a fit of frustration as he lights his cigarette at one point—he acts with his entire body, and Cianfrance’s documentary feel enhances the realism of the moment. Gosling’s subtle humor with which he treats his adorable daughter as well as the issues in his marriage that he wishes to ignore adds significantly to the film. It also lights up the especially stressful moments to watch and helps to enforce the sense of hope, albeit brief, which the film accomplishes nonetheless.

Cindy’s helplessness and frustration that Williams brings to life complement Gosling’s casual humor in a foreboding but natural sense. The two actors show very palpable chemistry onscreen, especially in the flashback scenes, and the intense method acting style they used in preparation for “Blue Valentine” is evident throughout. Cianfrance captures those moments past and present, high and low, between the couple that encapsulate the nature and the questionable future of their relationship.

Ultimately, “Blue Valentine” is as fun a film to watch as it is painful, but it is a sensory and thought-provoking cinematic experience to witness. Even the end credits, an artwork within themselves, entertain. As a profound love and hate story, “Blue Valentine” has both lasting power and tangible realism.

Directed by Derek Cianfrance; written by Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne; starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams; director of photography, Andrij Parekh; edited by Jim Helton and Ron Patane; produced by Doug Dey, Carrie Fix, Lynette Howell; released by Hunting Lane Films; running time 120 minutes