Take This Waltz (2011)

Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman

Director: Sarah Polley

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rating: B

"Life has a gap in it, it just does. You don't go crazy trying to fill it."

I had three major problems with Take This Waltz.  The first is that this movie is too long.  There were a lot of points in the movie that could have been cut or simplified without affecting the plot.  The second is that it’s really similar to Blue Valentine in terms of plot, nature, and tone, which is exacerbated by the fact that both star Michelle Williams.  Finally, this is a very Canadian movie - almost ridiculously so – and yet its protagonist is played by American Michelle Williams.  Normally I have no problem with Americans playing Canadians or Canadians playing Americans, but when a movie is placing such a huge emphasis on being Canadian and yet has an American in the central role I can’t help but feel as though the casting is because of the attention that a name like Williams’ can garner – which begs the question of, how is the Canadian film industry supposed to grow if Canadian films can’t hire Canadian actresses?  There are many Canadian actresses who could have filled the role just as well, and in casting one of them Polley could have solved two of my three major issues – without Williams in the lead role, the comparison to Blue Valentine is diminished.

Take This Waltz follows Margot (Williams), a happily married freelance writer who falls in love with her neighbour. Margot has a very child-like relationship with her husband, Lou (Rogen), that seems to be based more on juvenile games than any adult connection.  When they try to have any sort of intimacy one of them very quickly puts an end to it.  With neighbour Daniel (Kirby) Margot is still awkward but there’s a sexual attraction that she doesn’t seem to have with her husband.  Despite her desire to remain with Lou she cannot seem to help pursuing an emotional affair with Daniel that constantly threatens to become physical.

The character of Margot is really annoying - like, ridiculously annoying.  She's insecure and childlike and flighty.  She doesn't seem to want to talk to her husband about her problems, she just seems to want to wish them all away.  There are some really cute moments between Margot and Lou that, to me, suggested that he really loved her and that if the two of them had just sat down and discussed their problems earlier on they would have been able to resolve them. Margot isn't capable of that, however, as she seems to treat life like it's supposed to just be perfect - like you're supposed to be happy and satisfied and everything is supposed to be good all the time.  Life isn't like that, and Margot's failure to understand as much is a big part of why I disliked this movie - I spent so much of it wanting to yell at the protagonist for being an idiot.  Making things worse is the fact that while Lou seems like he's this really great guy where as Daniel.... I really didn't like Daniel. Or Margot.  When a film is all about an affair, you'd think the people having it might be likeable.

The one thing that I did like about this film is the ending.  While it was ridiculously slow and drawn out throughout the beginning and middle sections, the end really brought things together.  Obviously I can't really go into the details without spoiling, so I'm just going to say that I like the conclusions that Margot appears to come to in the end.