We Don't Live Here Anymore

We Don't Live Here Anymore is as intricately real yet vividly dramatic an appreciation of the conundrums of marriage as Ive seen on screen since the Edward Albee/ Mike Nichols feature. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Exquisitely orchestrated by John Curran (who last graced Sundance with his darkly sexual Praise), this potent charting of the infidelities and inner sufferings of two academic couples even has more than a passing similarity to that landmark work. But using an unsettling multiple perspective and understanding, and even assessing accountability without resorting to moral judgment, make this film a remarkable litmus test for personal introspection.

Based on the short stories of Andre Dubus (who also Wrote the story that inspired In the Bedroom), and consummately scripted by Larry Dross, this contemporary portrait of characters of privilege, those whose sense of specialness makes the traps of normal life intolerable, is perfectly performed by a cast led by Mark Ruffalo that includes Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, and Peter Krause.

Brutally honest, yet balanced with pathos and humor, We Don't Live Here Anymore is a film whose visceral sensibilities and insights are filtered through pastoral images and sounds that effectively underscore the contradictions of its protagonists' desires and demons.