Take This Waltz

Margot (Michelle Williams) meets Daniel (Luke Kirby) on a plane ride home. They hit it off and then they realize that they are actually neighbors. She finds him intriguing and rethinks her bland marriage to Lou (Seth Rogen). Sarah Silverman plays Margot's friend Geraldine.

Writer/director Sarah Polley is trying to dive into the emotions of cheating. And it feels manufactured. There is something artificial about the attraction between Margot and Daniel. There is just not enough chemistry between the two. Seth Rogen puts in a nice piece of work. It helps that he has the most compelling scene in the movie. (water in the shower, I'll say no more) Michelle Williams has done this character before, and she does it well. She's the magnificent beauty who doesn't know herself. I have to put this down as a minor sophomore jinx for Sarah Polley after 'Away from Her'. Not too bad but I expect bigger and better things to come.

One of my favorite things about this charming indie drama was that I really enjoyed was just how real the relationships in the film came across. Writer/director Sarah Polley creates a freshness and realness to this story of a happy young married couple Margo (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) whose happy life is challenged when Margo meets and falls for neighbor and artist, Daniel (Luke Kirby). Margo thought she had what she wanted but, the free spirited Luke makes here question whether she is really happy with Lou or just thinks she's happy. As Lou becomes focused on writing a cookbook, Margo begins to explore what she really wants... or is it. And that's the thing that I felt was so real about this charming little movie. Margo's answers are never clear as in life they sometimes aren't. Are were really happy or just convincing ourselves to settle for what we have? Is it human nature to always think there is something better for us out there and thus were never are truly content or happy? These are true life questions and questions we ask ourselves as we watch Margo pursue a course which could cost her everything. And, of course there is the age old question, of the grass always appearing greener. I really enjoyed how director Polley gave the film a very refreshing style and really made the characters seem like real people. They all have their little quirks and habits and they make decisions based on emotions and are sometimes selfish and not careful about hurting those around them. And, they don't always know what they really want. The performances are strong across the board with Michelle Williams giving another great characterization of the almost childlike Margo, whose very likable despite her selfish pursuits. Seth Rogen surprises as Lou a man who obviously loves Margo but, has his own goals and is a little too focused on such to notice his wife is troubled. Luke Kirby is good as the artist Daniel who, much like Margo, decides to selfishly pursue their attraction despite knowing she is married. Round out the cast as Lou's sarcastic alcoholic sister, Geraldine is a perfectly cast Sarah Silverman. All in all this is a refreshingly un-Hollywood indie that takes a look at real people with real emotions making real and sometimes selfish and stupid decisions. Something we are all guilty of and that's why we can identify with these people and how love or, what we think is love, can be such a confusing factor in our lives. And, most of all, is there such a thing as true happiness or is it an illusion we create ourselves?

This film shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. Take This Waltz centres around a two-suitors plot that was tired a century ago, takes place in a hipster-utopia version of Toronto, has multiple comedic actors who've worn out their welcome doing Serious Roles, and its characters are either selfish or dull. But Take This Waltz also has a kind of magic that can wash over the most jaded cinema viewer and make you forget that you've seen it all before.

Maybe it's Sarah Polley's direction, or maybe it's the brilliant performance of Michelle Williams that makes her character likable against all odds. Maybe the thematic statement about the perils of looking for adventure and the need for constant romance is something that we need affirmed more often against the tide of romcoms and gooey melodramas. Maybe it's just that I really want to live in hipster- utopia-Toronto. But this film stuck with me for days afterwards, its scenes playing over and over in my mind, blotting out all the rest of the disposable entertainment. There are so many indelible images here: a public shower scene which plays pranks on the male gaze, that goofy but somehow powerful 360-degree-rotation montage, and of course the final scene, a coda that grants its central character and us along with her a moment of unmediated joy. And it's that joy that the film understands as being something we maybe have to pursue no matter what its cost. Michelle Williams' abashed smile gives us a taste of that adventure, and like the rest of the movie, it's damn hard to resist.

OK it's not as bad as all that -- it is sort-of OK -- but I had to say it. I'm probably not the first.

This is basically a short film on infidelity, dragged out to a couple of hours. It's not terrible, but it's also not good.

The film has its good points, of course. I found the cinematography to be great, for example. Particularly the shots in and around water were very effective, and showcase the use of film to communicate without words. But the fact that I'm noticing the cinematography first tells you that the story isn't really there.

I thought the acting was believable. Everyone performed well in their roles, as far as I can tell. Seth, Luke, and Michelle were good choices for the triangle. That said, I am confused about casting not just one but two popular comedians against type. It made me question what I was supposed to be seeing. I'm not sure I figured it out.

For me I attribute the problems to editing and writing.

The story didn't provide anyone for me to root for, identify with, or even hate. I didn't really care for any of the characters. I like these actors, but I found these characters annoying to varying degrees, but not so annoying as to be detestable. I just didn't wish to spend any more time with any of them than I had to. Perhaps if I could recognize in them any motivation for their actions (or lack thereof) it might be different. I compare this with The Postman Always Rings Twice, where understandable things happen, and lead to a more satisfying (but too preachy-perfect) ending.

The long silences here are not deep and meaningful. They're just long. I figure the film could be cut by half an hour, and not lose much beyond silence or small talk. In fact, even the end could be lopped off. There were several points where I thought it was over, but it kept going. What's odd is that there are some scenes where random half-second cuts are made, music-video-style, but real cuts to speed it along aren't made. I'm certain you could cut another hour or so and turn it into a really great short. There's nothing wrong with that, if telling the story with emotion is the goal.

The tie-in to Leonard Cohen's song seemed forced. I cringed. When I think about that scene, it feels to me like someone decided we needed a cryptic song by a Canadian poet to name the film after. I don't feel that any of the characters in the film are devoted Leonard Cohen fans.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this film, but neither would I say to avoid it. It will surely be on the The Movie Network (among others) in Canada, since they apparently helped pay for it. The best place to see it is therefore probably cable or satellite.

Common terms associated with movies about infidelity would be "lust," "passion" and "betrayal," yet all those things are suspiciously absent from Sarah Polley's infidelity drama, "Take This Waltz." Her film is about as anti-soap opera as you can get — careful to avoid melodrama and dedicated to sidestepping any and all conventional depictions of adult relationships in film.

It seems odd to call Polley bold for showing it like it is, the way that she drags us through the head of her main character, Margot (Michelle Williams), who so undeniably loves her husband, Lou (Seth Rogen), yet cannot deny her feelings for Daniel (Luke Kirby), a man she meets while away for work who turns out to be her neighbor. However, when it comes to filmmaking, anything that deviates from Hollywood reality can make an audience uncomfortable, so it takes some guts to ignore that filmmaking impulse.

Consequently, a good chunk of viewers will be turned off or frustrated by "Take This Waltz," losing patience with the inaction of its characters and pulling their hair out over the tension oozing out of the most casual character interactions. Yes, "Take This Waltz" can be so uneventful that it verges on pointless, but in time Polley's intentions become very clear.

As Margot and Daniel get closer, they don't really get closer, and as Margot and Lou drift apart, they actually come off as in love as they've ever been. For much of the film, it's in Margot's head that the cheating is actually happening. Her thoughts and actions are not in sync and it becomes extremely difficult for us to find empathy for her because we feel as though she needs to act on her feelings, to either voice her displeasure to Lou or throw herself at Daniel. That's the Hollywood impulse calling.

Polley continues to resist, and as challenging as it becomes to watch at times, her film comes out better for sticking to its convictions. As she clearly intended, a switch flips in a scene in which Margot and Daniel ride an indoor Scrambler as "Video Killed the Radio Star" plays, an in the loopy chaos of the scene, we (and Margot) find a certain clarity in understanding what's going on between the main characters.

There's a definite phantasmagoria to Polley's style as well that while visually engaging contrasts a bit with what's otherwise such a nuanced, completely believable film. Several scenes play out like dream sequences, but we later can confirm they actually happened. She seems quite content to toy with our expectations and challenge what we think we know to be true about how love works.

You couldn't cast a better actress than Williams with a performance that's so hard to pull off. We only identify with Margot because we see her humanity, but it's tough to understand her and in some cases even like as a third-party observer of her story. Williams should be lauded for volunteering for this experiment and selling it as well as she does, especially when you consider that Kirby is a total unknown and Rogen is a poster child for modern comedy, for formulaic comedies that are such a far cry from "Take This Waltz."

The end of the movie is bound to bother a lot of people, while others will be intrigued at the choice and make peace with what Polley has to say because she frankly makes a good argument. Fidelity gets such a black-and-white portrayal in film and television, though maybe that's a societal thing because of its prominence in religious code. Nevertheless, she utilizes every tool at her disposal to present the gray area that we so quickly jump to deny and shudder to embrace.

It's tough to really enjoy a film that doesn't emotionally click, in which we don't feel with our hearts that things should've turned out how they did, but Polley has such a beautiful directorial style and conveys her intentions so clearly that "Take This Waltz" warrants a certain degree of respect for its bold yet so honest and impressively perceptive take on love.

~Steven C

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