Blue Valentine (film)

Blue Valentine is a 2010 American romantic drama film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance. Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, and Joey Curtis wrote the film, and the band Grizzly Bear scored it. Blue Valentine depicts a married couple, played by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, shifting back and forth in time between their courtship and the dissolution of their marriage several years later.
The film received critical acclaim and Williams was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, while Gosling received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Five-year-old Frankie wakes up her dad Dean. She cannot find their family dog, Megan, and together they look for her throughout the Pennsylvania family home, with Dean reassuring Frankie. A gate leading outside appears to have been left open, and it is implied the dog may have escaped. Dean and Frankie wake up Dean’s wife, Cindy, who appears exhausted and annoyed. She reminds the two that Frankie has to get ready for school and cannot be late. While Cindy gets Frankie dressed, gives her breakfast, emailing herself missing dog flyers, and getting herself ready for her job, Dean focuses on making Frankie laugh, rebuffs the instant oatmeal breakfast Cindy made for Frankie, and drinks alcohol and smokes cigarettes.
Later that day, Cindy is shown to be working as a nurse at a clinic where her boss, Dr. Feinberg, had just offered her to join him at his new clinic in another city in the near future, and is inquiring if she’s discussed moving with her family. Appearing exhausted, she says she hasn’t. Meanwhile, Dean drives around while drinking and smoking, and is shown to be painting houses for work. While driving to an event at Frankie’s school, Cindy finds Megan dead by the roadside. She arrives late to the event. Dean is already there; when she tells Dean what she found, he blames her for leaving the gate open while she silently breaks down in tears. When they get home, Dean breaks down and Cindy comforts him. Later, despite Cindy's reluctance due to being scheduled as on-call for work the following day, Dean insists on a getaway at a motel 2 hours away to “get drunk and have sex”. They drop Frankie off at Cindy’s dad. Dean does not enter the home; when Cindy asks why, he states he cannot smoke near Cindy’s father’s oxygen tank. While driving them to the motel, Cindy stops by a liquor store and has an awkward encounter there with her ex, Bobby, which causes an argument in the car between her and Dean.
Flashbacks reveal that Dean was a hopeless romantic high school dropout, working for a moving company in Brooklyn. Cindy was once an aspiring doctor studying pre-med while living with her parents and caring for her grandmother in Pennsylvania. Her parents have a volatile marriage, with her dad being verbally abusive towards her mother. She is dating a fellow student named Bobby and one day, the two have intercourse where he ejaculates inside her without her consent. He brings her roses but gets angry when she does not accept his apology, causing Cindy to shut him out.
Upon arriving at the motel, Dean repeatedly tries to seduce Cindy in the shower and afterwards but she rebuffs him. Dean and Cindy proceed to drink alcohol. Overwhelmed by his advances and frustrated with his lack of ambition, she questions Dean while they are drunk which leads to another explosive outburst. Dean continues his advances and Cindy gives in, but is disappointed when Dean asks if she wants to have another child with him. Their argument becomes explosive again and she locks the door between them, leaving him outside the bedroom. Early in the morning, while Dean is still sleeping, Cindy is called in for work. She takes the car and leaves a note for Dean. At the clinic, Dr. Feinberg recommends that Cindy move into an apartment near the new clinic instead of moving her family, off-handedly suggesting that they could keep each other company if she is lonely, which visibly upsets Cindy.
More flashbacks reveal that while Dean is delivering furniture to a nursing home in Pennsylvania, he runs into Cindy, who is visiting her grandmother. Initially pushy with his advances, he gives her his work number but she never calls; however, they coincidentally meet again on a bus and begin seeing each other. After discovering their relationship, a jealous Bobby violently assaults Dean while he is at work. Cindy introduces Dean to her family. Cindy finds out she is pregnant and tells Dean she is not sure who the father is, and that he is unlikely to be the father. Dean repeatedly questions her on what she is going to do. She ends up opting for an abortion but, overwhelmed, changes her mind during the procedure, while Dean waits for her in the clinic. Dean comforts and reassures her that they can raise the child together. Cindy and Dean soon get married at a Justice of the Peace.
Back at the motel, Dean finds the note upon waking and, annoyed, is forced to get the bus back home. He shows up drunk at Cindy’s job and forces his way in while yelling at Cindy, following her from room to room, as the clinic receptionist attempts to intervene. They have a heated argument. Dr. Feinberg hears the commotion and also attempts to intervene, and Dean punches him. Dr. Feinberg then fires Cindy, threatens to call the cops on Dean, and kicks them both out. While leaving, Cindy demands a divorce, causing Dean to throw away his wedding ring, but then attempts to look for it, with Cindy helping him. Back at her parents' house, Dean tearfully pleads with an upset Cindy to give the marriage another chance for Frankie. Cindy says she doesn't want Frankie to grow up with parents who despise each other like she did, and that she cannot cope with his behavior. After Dean reminds Cindy of their vows, they hug, but she pulls away. Dean leaves the house while Frankie runs after him and begs him to stay. He tricks her to return to Cindy and then continues walking away. Frankie cries in Cindy’s arms.
Williams was 21 when she received the script in 2002 and Gosling committed to the production four years later, but filming did not begin until 2009, when Williams was 28 (as was Gosling), owing to Cianfrance's inability to find financing. The director was also unable to film the "young" and "older" scenes several years apart as he had hoped, again due to lack of money. The film was to be shot in California but production was moved to Brooklyn and Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Because her partner Heath Ledger had died the previous year, Williams wanted to stay close to her Brooklyn home to take care of their daughter, Matilda. Accordingly, the director chose Honesdale due to its proximity to Brooklyn. Filming began on 12 May 2009.
Gosling and Williams improvised dialogue; the scene in which their characters wander through New York together was unscripted, for example; the actors—who had both appeared in The United States of Leland (2003) but had not shared scenes—got to know each other during its filming. Before filming the marriage dissolution between the main characters, Gosling and Williams prepared by renting a home, bringing their own clothing and belongings, buying groceries with a budget based on their characters' incomes, filming home movies and taking a family portrait at a local Sears with the actress who played their daughter, and staging out arguments. Cianfrance visited the actors and assisted them in building tension while remaining in character: "One night he told Gosling to go into Williams' bedroom and try to make love to her. Gosling, soundly rejected, ended up sleeping on the couch."
The film was shot in Super 16mm and Red One. The former was used for the pre-marriage scenes and the latter was used for the post-marriage scenes. Andrij Parekh used only one professional light in the filming of the outside scenes, otherwise using only practical lights for the inside scenes.
In an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Cianfrance said that he had given up his entire director's fee to help fund the film: "I mean, it came down to we were exactly my fee short. They paid me and I just paid it back. So I still have to pay taxes on it, you know. So I actually had to pay to make the movie."
Gosling wrote and performed some songs by himself. The band Grizzly Bear composed the score of the film. A soundtrack for the film was released by Lakeshore Records.
"You and Me", one of the film's feature songs, which is presented as the couple's personal song, was originally recorded as a demo by a group called Penny & The Quarters for the obscure Prix Label of Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1970s. It was re-released on a compilation album by The Numero Group in 2007 without the members of the group being identified.
The film premiered in competition at the 26th Sundance Film Festival. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 15, 2010. In Australia, the film was released on December 26, 2010, through Palace Films. In the United States, it was distributed by The Weinstein Company as a limited release on December 29, 2010.
On October 8, 2010, Blue Valentine was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for American cinemas. This was due to a scene depicting cunnilingus. Gosling accused the MPAA of sexism and misogyny. "There's plenty of oral sex scenes in a lot of movies, where it's a man receiving it from a woman – and they're R-rated. Ours is reversed and somehow it's perceived as pornographic", he stated. The Weinstein Company appealed the decision and aimed for an R without any trims to the film, believing the prior decision would significantly harm the film's potential box office take in the United States. The appeal was successful on December 8, 2010, and the film received an R rating.
The film was given an uncut 15 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 10, 2011. Special features include an audio commentary with director Derek Cianfrance, a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and home movies. The film has grossed $5,336,207 through US video sales.
Blue Valentine received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 212 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.80/10. The website's critical consensus states: "This emotionally gripping examination of a marriage on the rocks isn't always easy to watch, but Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling give performances of unusual depth and power." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 81 out of 100 based on 42 reviews, meaning "universal acclaim".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, and wrote: "Dean seems stuck. He seems to stay fixed at the initial stage. Can you see the difference between (1) 'He loves me as much as he always did', and (2) 'He loves me exactly like he always did'? ...
Blue Valentine was listed on many critics' top ten lists of 2010.
In 2006, the script won the Chrysler Film Project, a competition that awards cash to an outstanding new feature film director overseen by Independent Feature Project.