Blue Valentine [DVD]

All great love stories end in tragedy. All good things eventually come to an end, one way or another. Ppl change, love changes, sometimes true love does not triumph. Such is life. This is a very real, gritty, raw, trajectory of a love story from start to finish.

If ever there was a film to affirm the notion that great love can come with great pain, it's "Blue Valentine". Such a compelling story of love and loss. I loved it on the first watch and was no less moved by it on the second. Gosling and Williams shine as the protagonists, and their chemistry is deep and believable. Not a feel-good film, but one well worth watching, especially for anyone who's had to let go of someone they truly loved

A film that looks at the ever declining relationship between a couple of naive but well-meaning people. A stark, revealing and sometimes depressing insight , stretching from the throws of early passion to the bitter conclusion.The pacing and zig-zagging of the story can sometimes sit heavy and confuse but there is always a sweet moment to compound the puzzling tone which at times gets extremely bleak. It makes the film feel worthy, lets face it not alot of relationship movies spend this much time setting everything up, doing the ground work explicitly. feels raw and emotive through out.The direction and camera work is superb and the acting is a sheer master class. Williams has never been better portraying a stereotypical woman who wises up to what she actually wants from life and Gosling is just wonderful(AGAIN) as the gentle, but perplexing Dean. He has this ability to improvise wondefully and make you feel his woe. not that you always end up siding with him.This is a must-watch along the lines of Rabbit-hole and Lost in Translation, about human drama within relationships that swamps you with hardcore emotions one way or another.

Good film if you are in a mood for something slow and seeing Am actors doing emotion like in a european film which doesn't often happen. However the story is so ordinary.And to add, I'm on his side. She knew from the start that he is not an ambitious achiever, but does low paid blue collar jobs. He's always been honest about it. He married her when she fell pregnant knowing that the kid might not be his and was a great father to that kid. He wanted her to be as loving to him as he is to her and she couldn't do it. He starts to drink to compensate for the lack of intimacy and she becomes even less intimate because of his drinking.But is it a coincidence, that she only realised that he doesn't love him (any more ?) at the same time when the kid is out of the nappies and she doesn't need him any more. She is so good at it, that she even believes herself and we believe her :)

The beginning, and the end, of a relationship is charted in this touching, honest, but at times brutal, film.Dean (Ryan Gosling) is an amiable, deeply unambitious, young man from a `broken' home who meets Cindy (Michelle Williams), an intelligent, sensitive, young woman from an equally damaged household, whose search for affection of any kind has led her into promiscuity. They fall in love, marry, have a child, (who may or may not be Dean's), and then - what? Live happily after? Well, maybe not.The two lead performances are superb. Ryan Gosling, (who, I must confess, I'd never seen before), is heart-breaking as the decent, loving husband who, nevertheless, has become lazy, both physically and mentally, and has retreated into the womb of family-life, without considering that his wife may need something more. Michelle Williams is equally fine, in a more difficult, unsympathetic, role, as the wife who steadily loses respect and love for a man who can no longer offer her what she needs.It's beautifully shot: the contrast between the warm glow of their first, and only, date; and the cold, metallic, sheen of the scene in the love-hotel, marks the director, Derek Cianfrance, (another new name to me), as a definite one to watch.Highly recommended - though with the proviso that the film does not flinch: the conclusion allows neither the protagonists nor the audience off the hook. It is most definitely not a `date' film.

This movie is incredible, it will touch you whilst also make you look deep within yourself especially if you have had a failed relationship or currently are part of a "damaged hanging on by a thread " relationship. Sometimes in life we fall in love and think that it will be forever and this couple just like thousands of other couples around the world genuinely want to be together but just can't quite sustain the admiration and love what they started out on. Gosling is sincere in his role and after commiting to marriage life develops a fractured personality and gets lost in the role of being both a father and husband. Williams feels unfulfilled and dreams of a better life and asks Gosling at one scene in the movie why he doesn't use his full potential to which he replys " why should I profit off my potential....... with what I am doing now is living the dream, it's enough for me" . There is so many differing views people will have on this movie and there is different bits and moments just will touch a raw nerve with people. This movie is a wonderful example of challenging the " conditioning" of us all that we will meet someone, fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. It is more often than not, sadly never the case. Prepare for a stark reality of a modern day strained marriage. It's painfully accurate.

I have to give this film four stars at least for the amazing acting from RG and MW. This is a portrayal of husband and wife, how they meet, fall in love and how they fall out of love, but I was not expecting that awful ending. Alcoholism is dealt with and there is also a scene which wouldn’t be for under 18s IMO, an abortion procedure is nearly carried out, MW character doesn’t go through with it, there is no detail to the scene, but I would stay it was more emotional and traumatic.Would have been such a better film if RW’s character got his act together and they worked out their problems, especially with the scene at the end where his little girl is screaming for Daddy to come back, very sad.