Product Description

A strong blend of suspense, star-crossed romance and wry comedy of manners, Married Life is an unconventional human drama about the irresistible power and utter madness of love. Harry (Chris Cooper) decides he must kill his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) because he loves her too much to let her suffer when he leaves her. Harry and his much younger girlfriend Kay (Rachel McAdams) are head over heels in love but his best friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) wants to win Kay for himself. As Harry implements his awkward plan for murdering his wife, the other characters are occupied with their own deceptions. Like Harry, they are overwhelmed by their passions, but still struggle to avoid hurting others. Married Life is an uncommonly adult film that surprises and confounds expectations. While it plays with mystery and intrigue, its ultimate concern is: What is Married Life? In its sly way, Married Life poses perceptive questions about the seasonal discontents and unforeseen joys of of all long-term relationships.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71914 in DVD
• Brand: BROSNAN,PIERCE
• Released on: 2008-09-02
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French
• Dubbed in: Arabic, English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
Far too many period productions look right, but feel wrong. Set in 1949, Married Life doesn't just bring the post-war era to vivid life with cigarettes and cocktails aplenty; it even plays like a product of the time. In that respect, it calls to mind AMC's Mad Men, except Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue) takes a lighter tone towards domestic disharmony. In this well-scrubbed suburban world, middle-class wives, like Pat (Patricia Clarkson), build their lives around their husbands. Pat and Harry (Chris Cooper) seem happy, but Harry confesses to his pal, Richard (narrator Pierce Brosnan), that the spark is gone. He plans to leave Pat for vibrant young war widow Kay (Rachel McAdams in a role that recalls The Notebook). Once Richard, a notorious ladies man, gets a gander at the platinum blonde, he secretly sets out to win her affections, while Harry plots to take Pat out of the picture. Married Life almost simulates one of Alfred Hitchcock’s pessimistic disquisitions on matrimony, yet Harry and Richard seek less hurtful means to achieve their goals. Though women's lib has yet to hit the suburbs, Pat and Kay harbor desires of their own, and the best-laid plans soon go awry. Though Kay could use further development, this ensemble hums along almost as harmoniously as the quartet in Starting Out in the Evening. Along with co-writer Oren Moverman (I'm Not There), Sachs transforms John Bingham’s 1953 novel, Five Roundabouts to Heaven, into an insightful treatise on love, marriage, and fidelity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Outstanding Blu presentation; another Chris Cooper success
A Pierce Brosnan narrated period piece about love, marriage and in the end - friendship. I will preface this with a disclaimer - the high rating and bit about friendship is for the alternate versions of this film.

The quality of the transfer looked very good, and I think when they make heavy make-up films like this the standards have to be higher now. Making it look flawless on such beauties as McAdams and an aged Brosnan and Cooper (alternates) can be tough, but they pulled it off decently. The clarity was so good at times there were a few reflections of cameras, lights and boom mics in glasses, eyes, etc. The story was made to be very believable for the time period, but I have to give the kudos to Cooper for once again playing a great role.

But what makes this film is the alternate endings. DRASTICALLY different then what you saw in theaters and on the home release. The special features on the Blu are the same as on the DVD, so buying this Blu would be recommended for the period piece memorabilia clarity alone. Plus, the other endings showed as 1080 even though it says 480 on the box (and most alternate inclusions are lodef on Blu so that was nice). I wish there was a way to bookmark the film and splice in the much better ending(s). Rex Reed keeps getting quoted as saying this is humorous and funny but I would say expect more of a "simmering" slowly played film that has some fun scenes and maybe one or two themes of darkness, but is believably enjoyable. The alternate endings total about 20 more minutes and are worth the time investment.

Interesting, though not necessarily what you'd expect
Given the general write-up of this film and some review comments I've seen elsewhere, I expected this film to be some what different than it turned out to be. Perhaps more like one of the alternate endings on the disc, perhaps not. Regardless, I'd have to say it wasn't exactly what seemed to be promised, but was still interesting to say the least.

Harry (Chris Cooper) is in a loveless marriage (at least from his wife's side) to Pat (Patricia Clarkson), but that isn't a problem as Harry has found the beautiful Kay (Rachel McAdams) and intends to be with her and live happily ever after, if only he can find a way to split with his wife without breaking her heart. Richard (Pierce Brosnan) knows of Harry and Kay's relationship because he's Harry's best friend and Harry has told him of his desires and his relationship to the lovely Kay. Unfortunately for Harry, Richard is a ladies man and he just can't let Harry have such a beauty for himself even if he is a best friend.

With that convuluted relationship between the characters, and a few other bumps in the road introduced along the way you'd think that a movie that promises suspense and intrique would perhaps play out in a certain manner. Ah, but such expectations are not necessarily what you'll get from this film.

Without spoiling the plot, suffice it to say again that what you expect and what you'll get from this film are not necessarily going to agree, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch the film. Not at all. Do watch the film for the character studies, for the attention to detail on life in the period that is covered, for the relationships and interactions between the characters and oh, yeah, also for the story that is delivered.

The performances from the stars are good. Chris Cooper does very well here, but if you are familiar with his work you know that could be said of just about any role you find him in. Brosnan does quite well as a bit of a scoundrel, and Clarkson does quite well in her role here too. McAdams seems a bit young for someone that would be interested in Cooper's character, but it's quite easy to see why anyone would be interested in and tempted by her.

A quick comment about the film on Blu-ray: my own take on the picture quality here is that the transfer is soft and not as sharp or well defined as one might expect on high-def media. I have not seen this film in theatres so I can't say for sure that this wasn't the look that the director was going for, but I'd expect that there'd be more details in the faces of the stars here and unfortunately that wasn't the case. Images in the background were somewhat blurred and easily lost and that normally isn't the case with most content on Blu-ray or seen in high definition.

I've rated this one a middle of the road 3 stars. Some may find it closer to 5 star material, while others wonder what was the point and where did the 90 minutes (give or take) that they used to watch the film go. Again, not necessarily something that would seem to have a big following, and much more likely to be a film that is somewhat quickly watched and forgotten. Of course that's just my own opinion, and yours may be different. If so, please feel free to leave a comment or write your own review here to help others that may be interested in seeing this film but would like more information and opinions before doing so.

About the blu-ray
I thought the image quality was outstanding here. I love period movies and blu-ray is a great way to watch them, especially when they so attractivelly recreate the period, as in this movie.