For this latest iteration in my most prolific series, I'd like to hear nominations for films that - in your view - best portray fraying or highly dysfunctional marriages. Movie junkies should have little trouble offering up four. The rest of you, please weigh in with at least one or two.
One qualifier: Try to avoid using any film marriage coming apart for the most obvious reason, the death of a child. Because as great as Ordinary People and Manchester by the Sea are, I'd like you to instead try to recall movies that accurately depict the nitty-gritty of married life, i.e., day-to-day life together, flaws and all. My mountain is listed chronologically by release date of film. Construct yours however you wish.
1.) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): In my view, Mike Nichols's adaptation of the eponymous Edward Albee play set the standard for this type of movie almost a half-century ago. I've often wondered if the tempestuous real-life marriage of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton helped fuel their explosive performances in this groundbreaking film.
2.) Another Woman (1988): Woody Allen has explored the fraught terrain of marriage several times over his long and controversial career. For my money, this gem - anchored by an extraordinary Gena Rowlands turn - is the best of the bunch. And in the smarmy husband sweepstakes, few have ever surpassed Ian Holm.
3.) Revolutionary Road (2008): It took forty-seven years for someone to convert this coruscating Richard Yates novel into a movie. What I appreciated about this brave adaptation was how director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe didn't take sides. Leo De Caprio and Kate Winslet emerge as equally flawed and human in this difficult-to-watch, brilliant film.
4.) Marriage Story (2019): In order to avoid duplicating directors on my monument, I picked this Noah Baumbach film over its near equal, The Squid and the Whale (2003). Tough choice; both movies are close to perfect. In the end, the later film got enshrined on the strength of the climactic fight scene between Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. The intensity and complete believability of that scene is seared into my memory.
Reflections From The Bell Curve: Two To Zero (So Far)
p.s. Thanks to my film-loving daughter for suggesting a post like this to me several months ago. In the end, the subject was a perfect fit for Mt. Rushmore. Would be sweet if a few people - especially you, sweetheart - chimed in today.
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