Blue Valentine (2010)

The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.

Director:

Derek Cianfrance

Writers:

Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis

Stars:

Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 53 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Gosling	...	Dean
Michelle Williams	...	Cindy
Faith Wladyka	...	Frankie
John Doman	...	Jerry
Mike Vogel	...	Bobby
Marshall Johnson	...	Marshall
Jen Jones	...	Gramma
Maryann Plunkett	...	Glenda
James Benatti	...	Jamie
Barbara Troy	...	Jo
Carey Westbrook	...	Charley
Ben Shenkman	...	Dr. Feinberg
Eileen Rosen	...	Mimi
Enid Graham	...	Professor
Ashley Gurnari	...	Checker

Storyline

Dean Pereira and Cindy Heller Pereira are a young, working class married couple - Dean currently working as a painter, and Cindy working as a nurse in a medical clinic - with a young daughter named Frankie. Despite their relatively tender ages, they are both ravaged by the life they've eked out together and by the experiences they've had leading into their marriage. Dean, a high school drop out, comes from a broken home, where he never really had a mother figure. He never saw himself getting married or having a family despite falling in love at first sight with Cindy. He doesn't have any professional ambition beyond his current work - which he enjoys since he feels he can knock off a beer at 8 o'clock in the morning without it affecting his work - although Cindy believes he has so much more potential in life. Cindy also comes from a dysfunctional family, with her own mother and father not setting an example of a harmonious married or family life. One of her previous serious ...

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Plot Keywords:

dysfunctional family | falling in love | unhappily married woman | unplanned pregnancy | marriage | 

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Taglines:

Nobody Baby But You And Me.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R on appeal for strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Australia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blue Valentine

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$193,728, 2 January 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$9,737,892

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,566,240

Company Credits

Production Co:

Incentive Filmed Entertainment, Silverwood Films, Hunting Lane Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The past scenes were shot entirely with a hand-held camera and often in just one take, director Derek Cianfrance said, to create space around the characters and allow them to come together to fill the frame.

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Goofs

All the cars driven by the actors had Pennsylvania license plates on the front. That is inaccurate, since in Pennsylvania you only get one license plate, which goes on the back.

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Quotes

Cindy: I'm so out of love with you. I've got nothing left for you, nothing, nothing. Nothing, there is nothing here for you.

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Crazy Credits

The initial credits, showing major cast and crew, play over a montage of stills from the film and clips of fireworks.

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Connections

Referenced in A Skeptical Marriage

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Soundtracks

Lullaby
Written by Daniel Rossen
Performed by Grizzly Bear
Courtesy of Warp Records

User Reviews

Surprisingly well done. I was a bit skeptical at first . . .

Surprisingly well done. I was a bit skeptical at first, but as I traveled my way through this story, it made more sense than many other attempts to capture this concept and present it well. Michelle Williams really shines here, it may be her best role yet, at least that I'm aware of.

The key point here is that is an anatomy of a marriage that has dissolved over time, becoming increasingly irrelevant to the wife, and evermore difficult for the husband to comprehend or connect with what's going on with his wife.

I've seen this before, in real life. Sometimes, marriages just come apart over time, even if they started out with the best of intentions and all the chemistry that can be imagined. It just happens . . . people change over time, and often, not in sync with each other. There's no real "bad guy" in the scenario portrayed . . . just the realities of how people drift apart, to the point of no return. Trust me on this one, this does happen.

This film may not be for everyone, but for those who can relate with this type of story, this is probably one of the best attempts yet which delivers a reasonably realistic depiction of what this can be like.