In the Bedroom By Todd Field Good Machine, GreeneStreet Films, Standard Film Company, 2001. Genre: Film
Reviewed by: R. W. Rasband

2001 was a banner year for film noir, with "The Man Who Wasn't There", "Mulholland Dr.", "Memento", and Richard Dutcher's "Brigham City." Add to these Todd Field's "In The Bedroom" which I finally saw this week. It's a meticulously constructed, suspensful film where every line of dialogue and shot has significance. It corncerns Sissy Spacek (who pulls off a tricky performance that may get her another Oscar), an upper-middle-class woman whose promising college age son becomes involved with a working-class older woman (Marisa Tomei) with a couple of young kids and a glowering soon-to-be ex-husband. There are some surprises to be had, including a screeching big one right in the middle of the movie which I shall not reveal (although many critics ignorantly have.) Suffice it to say that the moral fault (or responsibility) is not where you initially think it is. The film is based on a short story by Andre Dubus, an explicitly Catholic writer. At one point in the film a priest offers a vision of faith as as healing and redemptive force (which is sadly not accepted). The movie is ultimately about the absolute necessity of faith and forgiveness for spiritual survival in the face of the most extreme, muderous human situations. Think of it as a Catholic companion to Dutcher's "Brigham City."

"In The Bedroom" would be a perfect selection for Brigham Young University's "International Cinema" series. It's a smart film based on a respected literary source and has a resounding moral message. I don't see it happening in the near future, however, because of its "R" rating (for some language and violence.) This is an excellent example of the difficulties involved in enforcing such a rigid attitude about "purity" in art (as commented on by Jonathan S. Walker's "The Internal Mormon-Media Conflict" in Meridian Magazine, as brought to the Lists' attention by Chris Bigelow.)

R.W. Rasband
Heber City, UT
rrasband@hotmail.com