Blue Valentine’s best prospects may be on DVD, targeting Cassavetes’ admirers, and Europeans who are stimulated by the aesthetics of hand-held cinema over-punctuated with close-ups.
In this done-love story of Dean (Gosling) and Cindy, director/co-writer Derek Cianfrance intercuts the relationship: He shows it in is flat last days, while flashing back to its puppy-love beginnings. In essence, Dean and Cindy now hardly recognize the person they once married: Dean is balding, lazy and combative, while Cindy is frustrated that she gave up on her intellectual potential by getting pregnant.
Cianfrance further counterpoints the drastic differences by the production aesthetics. The flirty-early days are enlivened by the bounce of a hand-held camera and a vibrant visual pallet, while the death-gurgle days are hardened by a unrelenting succession of close-ups and dim lighting. Ultimately, the heavy-handed and annoyingly obvious aesthetic wears thin.
The Bottom Line
Penetrating but tedious close-up of a marriage breakup.
Further enervating the story’s potency is the narrative redundancy. Several scenes could be cut without sacrificing the film’s acute, clinical depictions.
Fortunately, the performances are fleshed out and telling. Gosling layers his character’s charm with an eruptive and credible anger. In his down-spiraling antics and tantrums, he is understandable and sympathetic. Williams stirs her performance splendidly: Her contained actions powerfully reveal the despair and hopelessness of a woman who was once a vibrant bride.
