While you never feel you're seeing something for the first time, what's done here is done well.
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It's hard to ignore a good noir movie--or even a color film that combines period elements from the late Forties with a limited use of the shadow-play that viewers have come to associate with those heavily atmospheric films. That's why the first thing that grabs your attention when you begin watching "Married Life" is the look of it, which has you wondering whether it's late Forties or early Fifties. But it reeks of period, and it's not just the clothing or deliberate use of texture. Director Ira Sachs ("Forty Shades of Blue") has done his homework, using longer shots and the kind of angles we often saw in those old noir thrillers.
But it all starts with the script, and Sachs and Oren Moverman have produced a tightly constructed screenplay with dialogue that does everything that it supposed to do: advance the plot, create or maintain tension, reveal character, and hint at what's not being said. Well-written films are as much fun for actors as they are for audiences, and the featured foursome of Pierce Brosnan (whose character, Richard, also narrates), Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson (as Harry and Pat Allen), and Rachel McAdams (as the other woman) treat their roles like chocolates that are so flavorful they're in no hurry to chew them up.
The premise isn't even unique. It's a throwback to those early dramas (so many of them B-movies) where a man plots to kill his wife because of another woman. The difference is the narration, which will remind many viewers of old private eye films. There are a lot of things that Richard can't quite figure out, and as he presumably talks aloud to himself we're invited to speculate right along with him about such things as why a marriage he thought was happy isn't at all, how a platinum-blonde knockout like Kay (McAdams) could be attracted to his friend (and not him), why Harry doesn't just keep a woman on the side and not mess with the marriage that holds his entire social existence together, and why eventually he decides that the kindest thing to do for poor Pat (Clarkson) is to kill her so she doesn't have to go through the pain of him leaving her. What a guy.
Based on the book Five Roundabouts to Heaven by John Bingham, "Married Life" almost feels as if it were inspired by a stage play instead, because it has a very staged feel to it in terms of character interaction and scenic construction--like one of the old "Playhouse 90" performances. But that too helps to contribute to the overall sense of period that permeates this production.
The biggest surprise, though, is that "Married Life" is also a wry comedy that's full of clever scenes and smart lines. The tip-off that we're not exactly watching a Hitchcockian treatment of the classic triangle comes early, with a playful animated-but-stylish title sequence, followed soon after by such wise lines as "Love is sex. The rest is affection and companionship" "In truth, I could never explain a woman's desire," or "It's always been the privilege of the well-to-do to use their business as camouflage." There are some clichés here, as when Kay explains to Richard that she's attracted to Harry because "I want to heal him," but moments like those are quickly undercut, as when this declaration is immediately followed by Richard's interior monologue: "Did I sense a breath of hesitation? I thought I did. I wanted to." And quickly, viewers are led off in another direction, suddenly just as interested in plot as, moments ago, the fascination was with character or the impulses that are common "truths" for all male and female behavior.
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[release]24226[/release]