Love is a concept that few people understand. It’s a feeling that’s indescribable and an emotion unexplainable. It’s a gift and a curse, and sometimes the driving force behind why people can’t let go of toxic relationships. When love fails, it’s just as hard to understand as when partners initially feel it. So how does it happen? In Blue Valentine, writer/director Derek Cianfrance does his upmost to show just how the fires of love between partners can burn out. His two co-stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are charged with showing interested audiences just how easy it is to fall in love, and how hard it can be when falling out of it.
In Blue Valentine, writer/director Derek Cianfrance does his upmost to show just how the fires of love between partners can burn out.
Dean and Cindy are two young adults on very different paths. Dean, an amateur musician, is after the bare minimum in life. He’s content with just getting a job and floating through life with little ambition. Cindy is a medical student studying to be a nurse. In a way, she’s almost Dean’s polar opposite, and yet somehow after they meet, sparks fly. Blue Valentine is their story, told from the present day during their marriage whilst flashing back to examine how everything started. This nonlinear plot shows how the beginning of their relationship evolved into its passionate form, while the present gives an open look into how their bond begins to deteriorate as the two grow apart.
All glory be to Cianfrance. His directing choices which included making the actors improvise, shooting the movie in separate parts, and making Gosling and Williams share a home were all instrumental in providing the polished product and getting the best out of the actors. The tight cinematography set an intimate tone for the story, and the writing is inspired by real occurrences in his life. In other words, Blue Valentine was not something he had to fake, and the actors are so convincing that they only SEEM not to fake it. Gosling and Williams both bring their A game in this tragic romance, that of which there is presently no replica. Gosling’s portrayal of Dean is prodigious. The differences in his youthful version and the development of his present day version are detailed and well noticed. Williams as Cindy is highly sympathetic. She plays a woman who is overly tolerating, sees her patience tested to great limits, and who seems trapped with no way out. Together the two were significant in this dismal telling that many have endured themselves, with others only praying that they never have to.
Blue Valentine isn’t necessarily designed to appeal to people’s emotions, but to paint an accurate portrayal of how something that seems so perfect can still crumble. It relays that love is not always easy, and sometimes it just flat out hurts. Cianfrance, Gosling, and Williams are all contributors to this hard truth that even though may be difficult to accept, was necessary to share. HBO Max currently has it available for stream. Otherwise it can be rented or purchased on multiple platforms.
