"The Ballad of Love and Hate"
By Jordan Overstreet
Published: February 14, 2011
Its that time of year again when distributors flood the movie market with an endless supply of romantic motion pictures in hopes of capitalizing on February’s Hallmark holiday. These movies (note they are not films) share the same archetypal plot line: boy meets Katherine Heigel, they use each other for sex, and, forty five minuets later, boy and girl are in a exclusive relationship.
Great. Brilliant. But where’s the drama?
While lonely, sexually unsatisfied, and potentially cat owning women may buy into this formula, the rest of us pray to the movie gods for an honest depiction of a real relationship on screen. Ordained for this challenge, is art-house director Derek Cinefrance, whose new film, “Blue Valentine,” radiates like the Hope diamond atop black velvet in this pawnshop of romantic trifles.
Dancing on the line between love and hate, Cinefrance invites us to take a ride on the marital rollercoaster that is the union of Dean and Cindy (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams). As the two continue to fall in and out of love, Cinefrance captures this buoyancy by weaving together the present narrative with past memories of happier times. Cinefrance juxtaposes times of peril with remembrances of joyous occasions, further blurring the line between love and hate.
Cinefrance first introduces us to the couple by illustrating their morning routine. As Dean (Ryan Gosling) polishes off what is to be the first of many beers, he surveys his backyard, only to find the family pet missing and the gate to her doghouse ajar. He examines the gate and with every fumble of the steel latch, his anger rises—someone forgot to close the gate—and we see Dean point the finger of blame to another. However, the arrival of his young daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), forces Dean to mask his anger without expressing it—a tendency that will continue to undermine his communication with Cindy—and move on for his child’s expense.
The relationship between Dean and Frankie is one of playmates (they suck up cheerios off the breakfast table and eat eggs with their hands); and when Cindy enters the picture, she must be the serious parent and polices both Dean and Frankie’s behavior, proving that “three is a crowd.” In these first few minutes of the film, we recognize the problematic dynamic between the two: Dean and Cindy are no longer equals.
So what happened to push them to this breaking point?
Unfortunately, Cinefrance does not write a middle, but rather he relies on his comparison of the younger versions of Dean and Cindy with their present personas to answer this question. Dean first appears as a stark contrast to the deadbeat men in Cindy’s life. Unlike her father and previous boyfriend, Dean is completely devoted to Cindy and is willing to do anything for her love. However, these qualities that first attracted Cindy to him have now become the source of her disdain six years later. She desperately wants Dean to exercise his potential by finding a new occupation other than profession PBR drinker, yet all Dean aspires to be is a good husband to Cindy and a good father to Frankie. Once her rescuer, Dean he has now become her destroyer, and despite her best attempts to prevent it, the anger and resentment that imprisoned Cindy’s parents in a loveless marriage has now infected her home.
However, this notion that Dean, in someway, wronged Cindy is not well articulated and is actually undermined by Gosling’s presence. Cinefrance gives us both too little and too much information about Dean. His run-down, stagnant older self does not seem to stem from the idealistic youth Cindy first fell in love with; yet, this is not a flaw of Gosling’s method but rather a critique of Cinefrance’s dialogue. Cindy says too much while Dean says far too little.
Take for example when Dean is later accused of being a violent alcoholic by Cindy’s coworker. It is never articulated to the audience that he has a problem with alcohol; while he does consume his fair share of booze, Dean isn’t having a case race with himself. The coworker’s claim holds no logical merit, for Gosling power on screen tends to make you side with him, in spite of the tremendous performance that Williams gives. Cinefrance’s tendency to litter the film with multiple testimonies from various bystanders to Dean and Cindy’s relationship in no way helps to explain the issues at play; they merely interrupt the action and provide further obstacles for them to work out.
While I have no doubt that “Blue Valentine” will garner a youth following, it seems odd that such a film will speak to the Facebook generation. Unlike “The Graduate” or “Rebel Without a Cause,” which both constantly defy the notion that one will become one’s parents, “Blue Valentine” seems to conform to this fear. The end of Dean and Cindy is upsetting, yet the implication that we, too, will fail is far more devastating.
“Blue Valentine.”
Running time: 1 hour and 54 minutes. Rated R for strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating. Now playing at Regal Green Hills 16 in Nashville.
