Review: In the Bedroom (2001)

In the Bedroom

Rating

Director

Todd Field

Screenplay

Rob Festinger, Todd Field (Story: Andre Dubus)

Length

2h 11m

Starring

Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother, William Wise, Celia Weston, Karen Allen, Frank T. Wells, W. Clapham Murray, Justin Ashforth

MPAA Rating

Review

Taking time to find the right project with the right actors, In the Bedroom marks the auspicious debut of subtle ensemble director Todd Field.

Three spectacular performances highlight this familial drama about overbearing and overaccepting parents raising a dreamer who is also conscientious. These two qualities lead him to believe better of the world than need be and results in his untimely death, leading the remaining players to cope with the unnecessary loss of a young life.

Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson play the parents. Spacek’s Ruth Fowler is pushy and doubtful in her son’s capabilities of making appropriate decisions. Wilkinson’s Matt is a strong-willed, but free-handed father who lets his child follow his own path without interference. Between the two, their son Frank (Nick Stahl) seems to have been raised well, but not with the type of strong-handed, loving guidance he probably should have. In spite of this, he seems to be a bright, well-adjusted kid with big ideas, plans for the future and a heart that doesn’t seem inherited. Stahl is a fine actor and gives an endearing performance here, but having so little to do gives him a limited depth, even if Stahl manages to infuse him with humanity.

Marisa Tomei rounds out the principal cast as the separated wife of an abusive husband (William Mapother) who latches onto the kind and nurturing Frank even though she knows the baggage she brings with her. Tomei has managed to redefine an acting career that many thought was negligible when she won the Oscar for My Cousin Vinny. With each new performance, she justifies that win and it becomes less an egregious assault on Oscar fans and more a recognition of a burgeoning career. Spacek is terrific, giving us one of her fiercest performances in some time while Wilkinson shows that he doesn’t need to resort to histrionics to sell a character. Both provide humanity and depth to their characters.

Field’s directorial debut is a fine bit of filmmaking, controlling his characters with a strong sense of purpose. Field is a fine director of character dramas that don’t have an aggressive, unrelenting feel. His films (including Little Children) have a keen observational quality exposing the darkness and redemption in the human soul where people with gleaming exteriors aren’t always shining on the inside. Little Children is a bit more forward with this concept, but In the Bedroom has a subtlety that defines masterful work and were it not for that tonally abnormal climax, it might have even been perfect.