Married Life [Blu-ray]

Director: Ira Sachs Ira Sachs

Overview

After entering into a passionate affair with a much younger woman, an unhappily married man resorts to murder as a means of eliminating his wife in director Ira Sachs' period melodrama. Set in the 1940s, Marriage tells the tale of Harry (Chris Cooper) -- a man whose wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson), only wants sex. Smitten by the beautiful Kay (Rachel McAdams) but ultra-sensitive to his wife's feelings -- so sensitive that he can't stand the thought of breaking her heart -- Harry opts to poison his wife as a means of allowing the marriage to end with her pride still intact. Harry's scheme soon goes horribly awry, however, when after revealing the plan to his best friend, Richard (Pierce Brosnan), Richard too falls in love with the ethereal young beauty and sets into motion a cunning plan all his own. A serpentine tale of murderous deception, Marriage was co-scripted by director Sachs and screenwriter Oren Moverman.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2008
UPC:	0043396271890
Original Release:	2007
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	33,038

Special Features

Commentary with Director Ira Sachs; Three Alternate Endings

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Pierce Brosnan	Richard Langley
Chris Cooper	Harry Allen
Patricia Clarkson	Pat Allen
Rachel McAdams	Kay Nesbitt
David Richmond-Peck	Tom
Erin Boyes	Becky
Terence Kelly	Dr. Anderson
Sheila Paterson	Mrs. Walsh
Pauline Crawford	Nurse
Rebecca Codling	Photo Store Clerk
David Wenham	John O'Brien
Annabel Kershaw	Miss Jones
Timothy Webber	Alvin Walters
Dolores Drake	Cinema Cashier
Malcolm Boddington	Well-Tailored Man,Well-Tailored Man
Carrie Fleming	Operator
Sean Tyson	Policeman
Ty Olsson	Policeman
Kathleen Duborg	Charade Player
Fred Keating	Charade Player
Suzanne Ristic	Charade Player
Elijah St. Germain	Little Charlie
Anna Williams	O'Brien's Girlfriend
Mike Cook	Charades Player
Dale Floyd	Charades Player
Alex Stevens	Charades Player
Dickon Hinchliffe	Composer

Technical Credits

Ira Sachs

John Bingham

Oren Moverman

Ira Sachs	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
John Bingham	Screenwriter
Oren Moverman	Screenwriter
William Horberg	Producer,Executive Producer
Steve Golin	Producer
Sidney Kimmel	Producer
Jawal Nga	Producer
Alix Madigan	Producer
David Nicksay	Producer,Executive Producer
Geoff Stier	Producer,Executive Producer
Bruce Toll	Producer,Executive Producer
Kurt Jackson	Special Effects
Scott J. Ateah	Stunts,Stunts
David Boulton	Sound Effects
Adam Shulman	Executive Producer
Matt Littin	Executive Producer
Avy Kaufman	Casting
Gerald Paetz	Stunts
Paul Rutledge	Stunts
Brent Woolsey	Stunts
David Jacox	Stunts
Coreen Mayrs	Casting
Heike Brandstatter	Casting
Ken Kirzinger	Stunts
Caroline Field	Stunts
Damien Volpe	Sound/Sound Designer
Lindsay Bucknell	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The well acted but slight Married Life appears to be an excuse for lousy marriage jokes. Harry (Chris Cooper) tries poisoning sex-hungry Pat (Patricia Clarkson) in order to be free to marry his girlfriend, Kay (Rachel McAdams). Take his wife, please! The plot is as dull and unconvincing as it sounds. It's 1949 thoroughly -- from the Plymouths, Doris Day songs, and McAdams' Kim Novak platinum helmet to the film noir and domestic drama story elements threaded through the script. Director Ira Sachs' previous Forty Shades of Blue was a finely wrought character study. Married Life excels at the same, but is overlaid with a hokey story and strident attention to period artifice that feels belabored. Pierce Brosnan tries to sort this stylistic puzzle, narrating the story while playing Harry's playboy friend Richard. He navigates his scenes with a breezy confidence the others lack, as if he alone sees the levers of the narrative and knows which ones to pull. Given the ending, it's not clear if the film was supposed to be a nasty joke or a sweet one. Richard wonders if we build our happiness on the misery of others, and the film hints that the ideal married couple is as self-centered as any scheming bachelor. Married Life was featured in the 45th New York Film Festival and the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.