Search This Blog

Saturday 18 August 2012

Take This Waltz (2011) Film, written and directed by Sarah Polley , 8* out of 10


On a trip to do research for the advertising material she has to write for a historic Canadian theme-park, quirky Margot (Michelle Williams) meets the funny, sensitive and good-looking Rickshaw driver and aspiring artist Daniel (Luke Kirby). They are attracted to each other and , as it turns out, they are neighbours in Toronto. Margot however, is not unhappily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a good looking (and cooking), big-hearted Canadian hunk who is working on his first cookbook. She is also integrated into Lou's network of friends and  relatives including his sister Geraldine's (Sarah Silverman) family. Geraldine is a recovering alcoholic.

This being 21st century Toronto, and not any-century Paris, the option of bridging unexciting periods in your marriage by taking a lover, is not acceptable to all concerned. Will Margot accept that she has to choose between her husband and Daniel? How will Margot choose?

Take this Waltz is a a high quality film credibly and intelligently presenting a young woman's dilemma from a woman's point of view. The decision-maker and doer here is Margot, with the men in subordinate though not unimportant roles. She is sensitive and vulnerable but at the same time  must gather enough strength and determination to make a most important choice in pursuit of happiness. She knows that whatever her choice she'll have to live with it. The film honestly presents Margot's struggle and its impact on those around her. 

Take This Waltz is well written, competently directed by Sarah Polley and has strong acting performances, notably by Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. In modern North-American film there is no one, who can play the young woman in the relationship crisis better than Michelle Williams (see the 2010 film Blue Valentine reviewed in this blog last year). Her performance in Take This Waltz is again mesmerizing, moving and worth the price of the cinema ticket by itself. 

http://www.magpictures.com/takethiswaltz/