What I figured after a good night’s sleep and some early morning analyses of the film I watched last night is this:
The problem with relationships is not marriage per se, but that it demands living together. It’s the sharing of routines, the demand to share interests, to share space… You shit, I’ll brush my teeth. You cook, I will mop. I’ll write, you sharpen my pencils. It’s that stifling expectation of togetherness. It’s being sentenced to ‘ever after’ happily or otherwise. It’s the choking feeling of having to work on being interesting, to work very hard on keeping boredom at bay.
“New things become old,” a middle-aged lady tells three younger women in the swimming pool showers. She is responding to the desire for newer, shinier things.
The protagonist (Michelle Williams) of the film is one of the three women. Her sister-in-law (Sarah Silverman) in the same scene says something to this effect: that after 10 years she at least still likes her husband, why would she want to trade that for something that may not last.
The three women are in their late 20s/early 30s. They all seem in happy(ish) marriages.
Earlier, the man (Luke Kirby) who is wooing Michelle asks her what was wrong with her, because she was restless… not right now, but generally in life. (I am paraphrasing.)
Most women say they want a man who makes them laugh, and her husband (Seth Rogen) does a lot of that. So well, we realise that’s not what we really want though.
This movie spoke to me. Oh my goodness, how it did.
It was so honest, so raw, and it was an echo of all the conversations I have with my very close bunch of girlfriends. Sarah Polley the director has done a tremendous job.
I don’t want to talk about the plot, what happens, who is hurt, who is not.
If you are in that restless phase of your life when you have little to complain about, but still can’t quite feel at peace with who you are and what you have, do watch the film. It won’t give you answers. It will probably confuse you even more. Yet, it will talk to you. It might tell you that you are not crazy for being the way you are, or it might tell you that it’s ok to be 10 feet away from the nuthouse.
PS: Thanks Chatura for recommending this movie, and attempting to push me over the ledge.
The Life of Umm 
I am intrigued 🙂 Gonna pick it up.. Thanks… and I agree with what you say…”happyish” LOL !
Hi Vanni,
I am from Qatar and love reading your blog posts. It really motivates me in my day to day life. You have a real good talent in expressing yourself via writting. Not many people has such a great talent.