Married Life is a deliciously twisted thriller, directed with all the vigor and imagination of a soap opera. Its title is at once ironic and bland. The setting (1949) and plot (murder and mistresses) scream film noir, but its pacing and repressed emotions are indicative of a 1950s melodrama.
Furthering the noir motif is the voice-over narration of Richard (Brosnan), who infuses some much-needed life into the proceedings. With The Tailor of Panama, The Matador and this film, Brosnan has carved an interesting career for himself outside of the James Bond icon.
Richard tells us of his friend, Harry (Cooper), who seems happily married. One day at lunch, Harry confides in his friend that he is leaving his wife (Clarkson, who’s had the market cornered on retro-Americana housewives since her debut in The Untouchables) for a younger woman. Her name is Kay (McAdams), a bottle-blond widow who steps in and joins them at the table. Richard confides in the audience that he, too, desires Kay.
There are also shades of American Beauty, except this time Cooper gets to play the Lester Burnham role. Worn down and disillusioned with the American dream, he wants to be truly happy, and sees that happiness personified in Kay. Don’t get the wrong idea about Harry, though; he’s such a thoughtful husband that he doesn’t want to put his wife through the pain and humiliation of divorce. No, murder would be much more merciful, he decides.
So the pieces are set in motion, although this is the kind of movie where everyone has a secret and intentions are always misrepresented. The most interesting thing about the story is the notion that even the person you’re sleeping next to could be miles away in their head. All these misguided feelings, along with a reference to The Trouble With Harry, would seem to indicate a Hitchcockian suspense film.
Yet we keep waiting for that film to arrive. “The men in my life don’t seem to live very long,” Kay states, warning of a darker tale that never quite follows. Instead all the subterfuge is married to the slow buildup and delayed payoff of a Douglas Sirk-style melodrama. Sometimes, two people just shouldn’t get into bed together.
Married Life
** 1/2
Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Rachel McAdams
Directed by Ira Sachs
Rated PG-13