In the Bedroom (2001)

In the Bedroom, nominated for Best Picture of 2001, was the feature film debut of director Todd Field, who had previously devoted much of his movie career to acting. Given Field's background, it's easy to see why In the Bedroom became such an actor's showcase, a trend he continued with his second feature, the underrated Little Children. Each performance in his first film is top-notch. The actors allow you to sense what emotions are driving their characters, and even though you can't go wrong with people like Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson as your leads, Field has directed some career-best performances from almost everyone in the cast.

Nick Stahl's Frank Fowler is a college student who is home in Camden, Massachusetts, for the summer, and he's started up a relationship with Natalie Strout (played by Marisa Tomei). She's older, separated (not divorced) from her husband, and parenting two sons. Unsurprisingly, Frank's parents are concerned about where the relationship is going. Wilkinson's Matt Fowler seems reassured when his son tells him that it's a "summer thing." However, his mother Ruth (Spacek) retains a bit of suspicion throughout the summer even if she is very open and welcoming in public.

Natalie's abusive husband, Richard (played by William Mapother), wants her back and makes his intentions eerily clear to her, often by entering her home to wait for her return. As the son of the owner of the local cannery, Richard has some clout of his own that he uses when he gets into trouble, which is often. For example, he beats up Frank when the young man attempts to shield Natalie from her husband's influence. Despite an attempt by Ruth to convince her son to end the relationship, Frank feels obligated to protect Natalie and her sons from Richard's violence. At one point, after destroying her house, Richard gets a gun and comes back to shoot and kill Frank. (As an aside, I thought it was an interesting choice on the part of Field and his editor not to show the reactions of Frank's parents to the news of his murder. We get a simple fade to black in each case--in fact, that's the transition used most often throughout the film.)

What follows in the film is a series of scenes about the frustrations of the slow nature of the criminal justice system and the family's reactions to the delays in seeing justice meted out. Richard is, of course, released on bail, and the trial date keeps getting pushed back again and again. Richard then claims that there was a struggle during the shooting in an attempt to get the charges reduced to manslaughter. It's perhaps the frustration over these stalling tactics and behind-the-scenes courtroom machinations that opens the fissures in the Fowlers' marriage. They grow distant, rarely talking to each other about their son or their work or even any significant aspect of their daily lives. When they do finally confront each other, the fight is an emotionally painful one as each accuses the other of being responsible for Frank's death. Matt accuses Ruth of being too controlling; she blames Matt for always allowing Frank to get his way.

The film works best for me, though, in some of the smallest and quietest of moments. After his son's murder, Matt enters the boy's room and begins touching the various objects there. He breaks down in tears. When Ruth sees Richard's reflection in a window, the conflicting feelings of anger and panic are evident on her face. Matt and his friend Willis (William Wise) have some very emotional conversations in a small diner. Even deciding what to order seems to have implications beyond the simple words that are being spoken. These quieter moments also evoke the day-to-day life of a community. There are scenes of a ballgame that reminded me of watching softball and baseball games when I was a kid, and the singing by the girls Ruth has been coaching all summer is quite a delicate, special moment in the film.

I suspect the most disturbing part of the film is just how quietly the scenes play out at the movie's end involving Matt's kidnapping Richard at gunpoint. A sense of calm pervades what would be handled in far more graphic and overly emotional fashion in a typical Hollywood film. Matt is really very matter-of-fact about his reasons for wanting to kill Richard. The trial would be too emotional for someone like Ruth, and she keeps running into her son's killer in town. He takes Richard back to the younger man's place to pack some clothes, telling Richard that he must leave town. However, Willis and Matt have planned all of the details of Richard's death, including the cover story that he has left town rather than face a trial. The drive back home afterwards, through an empty town early in the morning, is one of those moments I'd like to call disquieting if it weren't for its actual quiet nature. It's almost as unsettling as Ruth asking Matt, "Did you do it?" upon his return.

I think this film has, under the surface, some issues with the class structure that it is trying to address. The Fowlers are all professionals or soon-to-be professionals. Matt is a doctor, Ruth teaches music, and Frank seems headed to a career in architecture. Occasionally, Frank and Matt like to get their hands dirty by working with the lobster fishermen, but that's truly a sideline for them. When Frank talks about dropping out of school or delaying it for a year, both of his parents chastise him, as does Natalie. I think he almost feels like he is rescuing her from her working-class existence or that he doesn't want to buy into his family's upper middle-class belief system if Natalie represents the "real world." She works in a small convenience store, one that both Matt and Ruth go to at different times in the film. To be honest, it's little surprise to me that Spacek's Ruth would slap Tomei's Natalie when the younger woman tries to apologize. Had Natalie been of a higher socio-economic class, I suspect that Ruth would have instead attempted to provide comfort.

Spacek and Wilkinson are both excellent. Spacek has to be one of the most reliable actors working in the movies. She can play the full range of emotions, and Ruth's fight with Matt is a powerful, surprising moment of anger for her character. Wilkinson, showing no trace of his native English accent, provides a nice contrast to Spacek's acting style. He is more introspective and less flashy, perhaps, but definitely her equal in all ways. Tomei, still best known for shockingly winning Best Supporting Actress for My Cousin Vinny, redeems her reputation here. I think she invests the character of Natalie with a graceful sense of tenderness and a keen awareness of the frightening nature of some of her decisions in life. As good as Mapother is, I'm starting to wonder if he could ever play any role that doesn't require him to be menacing. Is it his looks that throw off casting agents and make him into the heavy each time? Even though he's only present for the first third of the film or so, Stahl too manages to make an impression. He's portraying an admirable if naive young man, and you can feel the freedom that someone his age is beginning to experience (even if his choices at times are destined for disaster). Field has made a complex, emotional film, and it's little surprise that Spacek, Wilkinson, and Tomei all received acting nominations.