"Forty Shades of Blue" director Ira Sachs and "The Messenger" scenarist Oren Moverman adapt British author John Bingham's pulp thriller "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" and convert it into an ironic, above-average, soap operatic potboiler. Incidentally, Bingham worked in British Intelligence during World War II so he knew something about clandestine affairs. Nevertheless, this smoldering, claustrophobic period piece about infidelity, attempted homicide and reconciliation among married couples and their single friends rarely generates combustible passion. Chris Cooper of "Breach" delivers the best performance in the most complex role as a murderous husband cheating on his wife. The top-notch cast includes former James Bond Pierce Brosnan, the beautiful Rachel McAdams, Patricia Clarkson, and David Wenham in this concise, respectable 90-minute PG-13 rated opus. "Married Live" seems like it got the short shrift from Sony Pictures Classics. If you have any doubts, you should check out the DVD special features where no less than three alternate endings are available. Despite the sterling performances and the faithfully recreated period detail, this movie remains curiously aloof and uninvolving. Meantime, the filmmakers appear to suffer from schizophrenia. Neither Sachs nor Moverman could reach a decision about whether "Married Lives" was supposed to be a genre piece, social commentary, a turgid soaper, a black comedy or a film noir murder. Sachs and Moverman alternate these diverse narrative styles in such a helter-skelter fashion that "Married Lives" lacks cohesion.
Sachs steeps us in period flavor with animated opening credits that capture the atmosphere of the 1950s. The story unfolds on September 5, 1949. As the narrator of "Married Life," Richard Langley (Pierce Brosnan of "Die Another Day") introduces us to the protagonist, Harry Allen (Chris Cooper), with whom he has been friends with since childhood. Harry is a well-heeled businessman in an anonymous metropolis in the far Northwest with an office whose picture window overlooks the sprawling city. He has been married to his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson of "The Dead Pool") and their offspring has left home. Richard expresses a jaundiced view of marriage and describes it as "a mild kind of illness like the flu or chicken pox" from which he has maintained immunity. Of course, this immunity proves to be ephemeral. Anyway, Harry summons Richard to a diner so that he can meet his younger, bottle-blonde, sweetheart, Kay Nesbitt (radiate Rachel McAdams of "The Family Stone"), with whom he has been indulging himself. He confides in Richard that he plans to leave Pat because he wants to be "truly happy." This surprises Richard since he thought Harry and Pat had "a pretty good marriage." More to the point, Richard thinks of their marriage as "the most successful marriage" that he has ever known. Ironically, Harry wants to leave his wife because she sees marriage as purely physical, in other words, nothing but sex. Pat thinks Harry is a hopeless sentimentalist that he values romance above physical contact. Richard finds Harry's attitude amusing. "We all have to put up with somethings in life, Harry." He adds, "We can't have everything." Harry introduces Richard to Kay in the first scene in a restaurant. Caddish Richard, who indulges himself with a different woman every week, manages to seduce Kay away from Harry. Meanwhile, Harry plans to poison Pat because he cannot muster the courage to tell her about his extramarital affair. Moreover, Harry cannot live with the thought that Pat would suffer grievously after he leaves her. Ironically, Pat vocalizes the same sentiments about Harry when Richard catches John O'Brien (David Wenham of "300") at Harry and Pat's cabin in the woods. Indeed, poor, ignorant Harry has no clue that Pat has seduced another married man until later in the action. Harry has gone out and bought poison and he puts it in Pat's indigestion medicine. During a late-night ride from Kay's house, Harry picked up a hitchhiker Alvin Walters (Timothy Webber of "Terror Train") who tells our protagonist about how he has to poison a relative that was suffering unendurable agony. The poison finished her off quickly. Harry buys the poison and tries it out on their pet dog to determine its power. Richard almost lets the cat out of the bag to Pat about her husband's philandering. Later, Richard steals Kay away from Harry, and our protagonist scrambles home to save Pat from drinking her spiked medicine.
Loquacious dialogue scenes constitute the bulk of the action in "Married Lives." In this respect, Richard has the choicest lines and one that gets repeated the most often underscores the irony of this domestic drama. Richard believes that you cannot derive happiness from the unhappiness of other people. This would involve a "burden of conscience" which—according to Harry—and later Kay—neither Harry nor Pat can do. If you enjoy subdued movies where the characters never fly off the handle and scream at each, then "Married Life" may entertain you. Unfortunately, all of this intrigue leads nowhere and "Married Life" winds up being cautionary rather than combustible.
Sachs steeps us in period flavor with animated opening credits that capture the atmosphere of the 1950s. The story unfolds on September 5, 1949. As the narrator of "Married Life," Richard Langley (Pierce Brosnan of "Die Another Day") introduces us to the protagonist, Harry Allen (Chris Cooper), with whom he has been friends with since childhood. Harry is a well-heeled businessman in an anonymous metropolis in the far Northwest with an office whose picture window overlooks the sprawling city. He has been married to his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson of "The Dead Pool") and their offspring has left home. Richard expresses a jaundiced view of marriage and describes it as "a mild kind of illness like the flu or chicken pox" from which he has maintained immunity. Of course, this immunity proves to be ephemeral. Anyway, Harry summons Richard to a diner so that he can meet his younger, bottle-blonde, sweetheart, Kay Nesbitt (radiate Rachel McAdams of "The Family Stone"), with whom he has been indulging himself. He confides in Richard that he plans to leave Pat because he wants to be "truly happy." This surprises Richard since he thought Harry and Pat had "a pretty good marriage." More to the point, Richard thinks of their marriage as "the most successful marriage" that he has ever known. Ironically, Harry wants to leave his wife because she sees marriage as purely physical, in other words, nothing but sex. Pat thinks Harry is a hopeless sentimentalist that he values romance above physical contact. Richard finds Harry's attitude amusing. "We all have to put up with somethings in life, Harry." He adds, "We can't have everything." Harry introduces Richard to Kay in the first scene in a restaurant. Caddish Richard, who indulges himself with a different woman every week, manages to seduce Kay away from Harry. Meanwhile, Harry plans to poison Pat because he cannot muster the courage to tell her about his extramarital affair. Moreover, Harry cannot live with the thought that Pat would suffer grievously after he leaves her. Ironically, Pat vocalizes the same sentiments about Harry when Richard catches John O'Brien (David Wenham of "300") at Harry and Pat's cabin in the woods. Indeed, poor, ignorant Harry has no clue that Pat has seduced another married man until later in the action. Harry has gone out and bought poison and he puts it in Pat's indigestion medicine. During a late-night ride from Kay's house, Harry picked up a hitchhiker Alvin Walters (Timothy Webber of "Terror Train") who tells our protagonist about how he has to poison a relative that was suffering unendurable agony. The poison finished her off quickly. Harry buys the poison and tries it out on their pet dog to determine its power. Richard almost lets the cat out of the bag to Pat about her husband's philandering. Later, Richard steals Kay away from Harry, and our protagonist scrambles home to save Pat from drinking her spiked medicine.
Loquacious dialogue scenes constitute the bulk of the action in "Married Lives." In this respect, Richard has the choicest lines and one that gets repeated the most often underscores the irony of this domestic drama. Richard believes that you cannot derive happiness from the unhappiness of other people. This would involve a "burden of conscience" which—according to Harry—and later Kay—neither Harry nor Pat can do. If you enjoy subdued movies where the characters never fly off the handle and scream at each, then "Married Life" may entertain you. Unfortunately, all of this intrigue leads nowhere and "Married Life" winds up being cautionary rather than combustible.