This is based in part on John Irving's novel "A Widow for One Year" and it focuses more on the relationship between the adults than looking at it from the perspective of the young daughter which is what happened in the book. Story takes place in the East Hamptons where a successful writer of children's books named Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his wife Marion (Kim Basinger) decide on a trial separation where they would share responsibilities with their daughter Ruth (Elle Fanning). Their marriage has been disintegrating ever since the accident that killed their two sons which Marion secretly believes Ted is responsible. Ted also decides to hire an assistant and this brings 16 year old Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster) to their home and he is instantly attracted to Marion. Eddie's job is to basically drive Ted around to his affairs with Evelyn Vaughn (Mimi Rogers) who is modeling for him but while all this goes on Marion catches Eddie masturbating to her bra and panties.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Marion asks Eddie to dinner and eventually to bed where she takes his virginity and they start their own affair but their secrecy doesn't fool Ted and young Ruth walks in on them at one point. After a while Marion starts to think about her role as a good or bad mother and she decides to leave for good. Evelyn has had enough of Ted's demeaning behavior and attempts to run him down but he runs off and when he gets home he catches his wife as she is about to drive off. This leaves Ted and Eddie alone with Ruth and that night Ted reveals the details of the accident that claimed the life of his two sons.
This film is directed by Tod Williams who is making his second effort as a director and while the structure of the film is fine he does show a good knack of allowing the actors to have their strong moments without all the quick editing that haunts Hollywood films. The story is both funny and dramatic and it does give both Bridges and Basinger two of the better roles they have had in years. Basinger is in her fifties but she shows she is still very much a sexual entity despite her age. Even with the nudity that she is asked to do this is still a very good role where she shows both depression and desperation with her character and even the shots where she speaks practically nothing the pain etched into her eyes is very evident. But this is Bridges film and his character Ted can be described in many ways but the words eccentric and cad come to my mind immediately. Bridges also shows Ted's intelligence with his insight into people and he wasn't fooled for one second once he saw his wife with Eddie. The one part of the film that didn't exactly work for me was toward the end when Ted reveals the details of the accident with his sons. We know losing children can ruin a marriage and we can see that with Ted's ego and wandering eye that they were doomed no matter what so I found the whole explanation of the accident totally unnecessary. One of the things about the story that I really found refreshing was it's frank attitude towards sex and nudity and I wish more filmmakers and actors could be like that. Williams film is honest in it's approach towards adult subject matters and it's also a showcase for both Bridges and Basinger who deliver terrific performances.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Marion asks Eddie to dinner and eventually to bed where she takes his virginity and they start their own affair but their secrecy doesn't fool Ted and young Ruth walks in on them at one point. After a while Marion starts to think about her role as a good or bad mother and she decides to leave for good. Evelyn has had enough of Ted's demeaning behavior and attempts to run him down but he runs off and when he gets home he catches his wife as she is about to drive off. This leaves Ted and Eddie alone with Ruth and that night Ted reveals the details of the accident that claimed the life of his two sons.
This film is directed by Tod Williams who is making his second effort as a director and while the structure of the film is fine he does show a good knack of allowing the actors to have their strong moments without all the quick editing that haunts Hollywood films. The story is both funny and dramatic and it does give both Bridges and Basinger two of the better roles they have had in years. Basinger is in her fifties but she shows she is still very much a sexual entity despite her age. Even with the nudity that she is asked to do this is still a very good role where she shows both depression and desperation with her character and even the shots where she speaks practically nothing the pain etched into her eyes is very evident. But this is Bridges film and his character Ted can be described in many ways but the words eccentric and cad come to my mind immediately. Bridges also shows Ted's intelligence with his insight into people and he wasn't fooled for one second once he saw his wife with Eddie. The one part of the film that didn't exactly work for me was toward the end when Ted reveals the details of the accident with his sons. We know losing children can ruin a marriage and we can see that with Ted's ego and wandering eye that they were doomed no matter what so I found the whole explanation of the accident totally unnecessary. One of the things about the story that I really found refreshing was it's frank attitude towards sex and nudity and I wish more filmmakers and actors could be like that. Williams film is honest in it's approach towards adult subject matters and it's also a showcase for both Bridges and Basinger who deliver terrific performances.