In association with

In The Bedroom [2002]
from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother
directed by Todd Field

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

A slow-burning, brooding movie that credits its audience with intelligence and patience, In the Bedroom starts deceptively calmly but builds to a climax of shattering desolation. Actor Todd Field's debut as a director, the film is set in a small coastal town in Maine, home of pleasant middle-class couple Matt and Ruth Fowler and their college-age son Frank. Frank, an adored only child, has started an affair that disquiets his mother; his lover, Natalie, is a lovely woman but a few years older than Frank, with two children, and her estranged rich-kid husband has a very mean streak. Even in this peaceful, well-ordered community, something extremely nasty might happen, and suddenly, shockingly, it does.

It's not the pivotal act of violence but its aftermath that gives the movie its full impact. Field and his coscreenwriter Rob Festinger remorselessly trace the way grief, anger and a thwarted desire for justice can open up rancid cracks in a seemingly placid marriage and turn the most civilised of men to thoughts of murder. And, contrary to Hollywood convention, there's nothing cathartic or redemptive about revenge in this film: the conclusion is bleak. As Ruth, Sissy Spacek is superb, her brittle sunniness giving way to vituperation and anguish, and she's matched step for step by Tom Wilkinson as Matt, deploying a note-perfect Maine accent that never falters. In the Bedroom rarely puts a foot wrong: only the title was perhaps a miscalculation, with its suggestion of steamy rompings. In fact it's a fishing term, meaning what happens when two lobsters get trapped in the same pot.

On the DVD: In the Bedroom on disc has nothing but a trailer by way of extras, which seems like a missed opportunity. Still, the transfer is excellent, faithfully reproducing the full 2.35:1 ratio of the original. --Philip Kemp

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• "Did you do it?"
  As the story opens in a Maine lobster town, we meet young Matt Fowler, home from college for the summer, who has fallen in love with an older divorcee with two children. Although Matt says it's not serious, his parents are worried. And the woman's ex-husband is a violent man.
  The title, "In the Bedroom," refers not to torrid love scenes but is slang for "lobster traps;" early on we learn that if two male lobsters are "in the bedroom" with a female, the males will tear each other apart. That's the plot,... more info

• In The Bedroom
  "In the Bedroom" is an atmospheric small town drama that is both intelligent and moving. It's a very individual film and it's definitely not going to be to everyone's taste, some might very see it as quite a boring and slow tale, others might view the lack of action almost as a lack of imagination. Some viewers though are going to view it as a singular and quite extraordinary film that really does stand out on its own.

  Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) is the local doctor in a small fishing town in Maine. Ruth... more info

• In the Bedroom beats expectations
  The Fowler family live an idilic existence in a prosperous New England fishing town, Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) as the local physician, Ruth (Sissy Spacek) teaching music at the local high school, and their only son Frank (Nick Stahl) a talented architect due to leave for College in the fall.
  Soon, though, it becomes apparent that all is not well in the family as Frank's involvement with Natalie (Marissa Tomei), a beautiful divorcee and mother of two, threatens to split the family. The rows are brought... more info

• Acted to perfection
  The first thing I have to say is the acting is superb. Sissy Spacek and codeliver top-notch performances, and were worthy nominee's for their Oscars(if which they should have won in my opinion).
  Its a fast paced movie, but akin to the Shawshank Redemption, it iscompulsive viewing, and the ending, although has a twist, is paced wellenough to not make you think that was what the movie was made for (unlikethe Sixth Sense for example).
  The plot has been made in many other reviews, but the way in which... more info

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