Movie Review: Blue Valentine

“Blue Valentine” is a testament to the imperfect and frustrating notions of love, intimacy, and companionship. It’s an intensely personal look at a complete lifecycle of a relationship, leaving the viewer with powerfully mixed emotions about the uncertain and often volatile nature of love and feelings throughout a marriage.

The film highlights the imperfections of both Dean (Ryan Gosling), and Cindy (Michelle Williams) as they fall in and out of love. The passionate chemistry of the two leads carries the film, whether they’re united by love or divided by anger and frustration. The tone of the film is also extremely personal. Close camera angles thrust you into the scene, feeling joy or pain along with the characters.

The film “Blue Valentine”, directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Gosling and Williams, follows the couple from before they meet to several years into their marriage, constantly jumping back and forth through time. In the later years Dean and Cindy are defined by conflict and incompatibility contrasted by an unconditional love for their young daughter Frankie (Faith Wladyka). The chronologically earlier scenes deal with courtship, conflict with Cindy’s ex Bobby (Mike Vogel), and marriage, interwoven with dramatic scenes of graphic sex, fights, and an abortion procedure.

The enduring strength of the film is it’s uncompromisingly honest portrayal of a loveably flawed relationship, with Gosling and Williams’ raw emotional performances in the spotlight. Dean’s charming, carefree personality balances out Cindy’s emotionally distant vulnerability, although her lack of communication is often quite frustrating for Dean.

Conflict also emerges through Cindy’s disappointment with Dean’s underachieving nature as well as his chain smoking and progressively heavier drinking. Those same differences also help to bring the two together in an endearing scene soon after meeting one another. Dean’s awkward singing voice and acoustic guitar playing is a perfect complement to Cindy’s dainty tap dancing and quirky sense of humor.

The emotional impact of the film is also greatly enhanced by close and detailed direction and cinematography. The characters are often framed with only their face or body showing, so that every facial expression or emotion is clearly visible, while any conversations seem more intimate.

The many jump cuts through time are also crucial, often shifting from a warm atmosphere to a cold and dreary one. This is especially useful near the end of the film, where two different scenes are juxtaposed, showing Dean and Cindy’s marriage, along with a monumental fight that leads to talk of divorce.

There were a few shortcomings in the film, although nothing that took away from the work as a whole. The film’s only problems were an initial sense of confusion when the film began to jump through time, and occasionally shaky handheld camera work that was visually unsettling.

In the end, Dean and Cindy are confused, frustrated, and at a breaking point about how to proceed with their relationship. There’s nothing left for them to do but hold each other in an uncertain limbo.

“How do you trust your feelings when they can just disappear like that?,” said Cindy in an earlier scene after watching her father (John Doman) abruptly shout at her mother (Maryann Plunkett) over dinner.

In the final scene, Dean walks down the street while Cindy walks in the other direction, a crying Frankie in her arms. It’s clear that their story isn’t over, but nonetheless the film ends. Dean and Cindy’s future remains as puzzling as the love that brought them together.