A curious blend of comedy, noir-mystery, overheated melodrama and one or two other genres that don't normally cozy up to each other, Married Life does a remarkable job of making its disparate elements feel welcome in the same movie. Writer-director Ira Sachs never attempts to wow us with his skill at juggling so many moods and sensibilities, but the movie is nonetheless a satisfying and nearly seamless patchwork.
Chris Cooper stars as Harry, a quiet and decent man who plans to kill his loving wife Kay (Patricia Clarkson) because he can't bear the thought of her suffering when he leaves her for a younger woman (Rachel McAdams). Meanwhile, Harry's best friend (Pierce Brosnan) has own designs on his pal's pretty new girlfriend, and that's only the beginning of the twists and monkey wrenches that begin accumulating in this oddly understated little period piece.
The movie's delirious romanticism recalls a more stripped-down take on Douglas Sirk, but the main influence here may well be none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Married Life displays oodles of the sort of slyly elegant humor in which Hitch reveled, never resorting to flashiness as it takes its perverse pleasures in the intricacies of its story's crimes. The music's similarly evokes Hitch's main man, Bernard Hermann, and the late-'40s time period allows the filmmaker to heighten its mysteries by shooting his characters through a constant haze of cigarette smoke and have everyone speak in an eerily measured, nearly contraction-less English. Inertia and a wave of red herrings threaten to take over by the end, but Married Life is still well worth your time.
Married Life (PG-13) Stars Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams. Opens March 28 at local theaters. 3.5 stars
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2008.