Review: Derek Cianfrance’s ‘Blue Valentine’, 2010.

Edson Muzada's movie poster design for 'Blue Valentine'.

Ryan Gosling as Dean Pereira.

Michelle Williams as Cindy Heller.

‘Blue Valentine’ is a 2010 romance drama film directed and written by Derek Cianfrance and stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as the lead roles. Grizzly Bear provided the musical scoring for the film. The film depicts a young, married working class couple, Cindy, a nurse, and Dean who is currently working as a painter. Cindy’s daughter, Frankie, is fathered by a failed relationship with another man and this failure has resulted in several strains on Cindy’s relationship with Dean. Dean lacks ambition, and fails to see anything beyond his current job. He had no mother figure growing up and comes from a broken home, as does Cindy, whose parents, although still together, argue constantly. With their relationship on the brink of collapse, Dean believes he can save it by whisking Cindy off to the tawdry ‘Future Room’ at a cheap motel. The getaway may prove that the couple is further apart and distant than they realise.

Ryan Gosling performing 'You Always Hurt the Ones You Love' on ukulele.

Williams and Gosling on their wedding day.

The film shifts back and forth from the start of their relationship and to the eventual break up of their marriage around five years later. The contrast of emotions between the time lines accentuates the void between the couple. The breakdown of the marriage reaches its climax at the ending scenes where the breakup and the couple’s wedding is shown by a series of fast cuts between the two times. In this way, ironically the relationship ends at the same time as it begins. The portrayal of Dean can provide an insight into the dissolution of the couple’s marriage; he has clearly not grown up yet, whereas Cindy has grown up and moved on without Dean. Dean is extremely childlike and has a primitive view of what makes a man a man, as he is presented as either childlike or violent and even after Cindy’s simple request for him ‘to be a man’, he still fails.

The poignant final scene.

It is interesting to see a different perspective of the ‘traditional romance’ movie as not only do we see the blossoming of Dean and Cindy’s romance but what happens after the 'honeymoon period' and what often happens in real life relationships. This enables the film to become a serious and true to life romance story. 


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