Hope Springs (2012)

After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their relationship.

Director:

David Frankel

Writer:

Vanessa Taylor

Stars:

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meryl Streep	...	Kay
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Arnold
Steve Carell	...	Doctor Feld
Jean Smart	...	Eileen, Kay's Friend
Ben Rappaport	...	Brad, Their Son
Marin Ireland	...	Molly, Their Daughter
Patch Darragh	...	Mark, Their Son-in-Law
Brett Rice	...	Vince, Arnold's Friend
Becky Ann Baker	...	Cora, The Waitress
Elisabeth Shue	...	Karen, The Bartender
Charles Techman	...	Charlie, The Docent
Daniel Flaherty	...	Danny, The Bookstore Clerk (as Daniel J. Flaherty)
Damian Young	...	Mike, The Innkeeper
Mimi Rogers	...	Carol, The Neighbor
Ann Harada	...	Ann, The Happy Wife

Storyline

Kay and Arnold are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has declined until they are now sleeping in separate rooms and barely interact in any meaningful loving way. Finally, Kay has had enough and finds a book by Dr. Feld which inspires her to sign them up for the Doctor's intense week long marriage counseling session. Although Arnold sees nothing wrong with their 30 year long marriage, he reluctantly agrees to go on the expensive excursion. What follows is an insightful experience as Dr. Feld manages to help the couple understand how they have emotionally drifted apart and what they can do to reignite their passion. Even with the Doctor's advice, Kay and Arnold find that renewing their marriage's fire is a daunting challenge for them both.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | marriage counseling | two word title | motel | hotel | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 August 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Great Hope Springs

Filming Locations:

Norwalk, Connecticut, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$14,650,121 (USA) (10 August 2012)

Gross:

$63,536,011 (USA) (19 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Columbia Pictures, Mandate Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Carell's character, Dr. Feld, uses a metaphor of fixing a deviated septum by breaking the nose. Meryl Streep has a deviated septum.

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Goofs

Several times we see Kay making Arnold's breakfast. She fries one strip of bacon and cracks one egg into the frying pan yet there are two eggs on Arnold's plate one morning.

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Quotes

Dr. Feld: What about oral sex?
Kay: I wasn't... I wasn't comfortable with that.
Dr. Feld: Giving or receiving?
Kay: [pause] Huh?

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Crazy Credits

There is a scene during the end credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Hope Springs: Inside the Perfect Movie Marriage (2012)

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Soundtracks

"It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over"
Written and Performed by Lenny Kravitz
Courtesy of Virgin Records America, Inc.
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

Streep, Jones and Carrell Break New Ground

I am a single, 67 year old retiree, who has been married and divorced twice; and this movie really touched me. It acted as a sort of cinematic mirror to prompt me to reflect upon the many daily choices, or even finer gradations of volition, that make up a healthy or dysfunctional marriage or relationship of any kind. The movie was about how we create our own heaven or hell, in the house, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, and in life. We lose our grip on our passionate love affairs almost the way that dust slowly collects on the floor. Didn't I just vacuum that dust yesterday? That is how a marriage can ossify, degrade itself, as if consciousness itself were shot full of some sort of novocaine by sneaky subtle injections over the years, one feeling at a time numbed.

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell are excellent and break new emotional and acting ground for all three master actors.

The movie made me think about my entire life, and it made me reflect upon my parents' marriage, too.

Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of Arnold, a man who has been an accountant so long he can simply function on automatic with his customers, not really giving his passionate self to his business- or his marriage, ran the gamut from acceptance of various ruts to various kinds of rage, embarrassment, and stubbornness, refusal to drop his pride, or make compromises that would have been in the best interests of himself, his wife and the marriage.

The camera does not editorialize. It shows Arnold falling asleep watching golf instruction on television. The camera directly above the frying pan and close up, depicts Meryl Streep's Kay, sizzling a strip of bacon and one sunny side up egg for Arnold every day, day after day. He eats his breakfast with his back to her as he reads the paper, then gets up, every day, and gives her a peck on the check without even making eye contact, and he's off to work again- like an unemotional little engine that could.

When Sisyphus pushed that boulder up to the top of the hill, his punishment by the gods, he had to watch it roll back down to the bottom of the hill whereupon, he repeated this process - for eternity. But Sisyphus smiled - at least according to Albert Camus, he smiled. It occurred to me that relationships and marriages devolve into accommodations, and that passion, like air being spent out the tiny leaks in a worn tire, can evanesce before either party truly, deeply realizes what they are doing, what they have done. The smiles in this movie are forced, automatic, defensive, painful. Boulders are not openly acknowledged.

In this movie, every scene is slightly underplayed. No line or gesture is over the top. Almost every word of dialogue is realistic. I never felt that I was being lectured or preached to. I did think that the background music was too intrusive several times, however, almost as if someone did not trust Meryl Streep to carry the emotional load of the scene - an error of judgement. This movie needed no such authorial or directorial intrusion - That is my only criticism.

"Hope Springs" is a movie about the ingredients of happiness or lack of same, and the finesse of the actors, the director, the cinematographer and the editors is magnificent. They never stooped to dwell on any sort of cliché dialogue or acting flourishes. It was believable.

I felt that the movie really opened up my life. I wish I had seen it 45 years ago when I married for the first time. It is that good.