In the Bedroom: DVD & Movie Review (2001)

(Originally published 2001)

Todd Field’s “In the Bedroom” is a haunting plunge into one family’s nightmare that’s so superbly realized, it deserves all the attention it’s currently enjoying--not to mention the awards it will eventually receive.

Based on a short story by the late Andre Dubus, the film, which Maine-native Field co-wrote with Robert Fetsinger, stars Nick Stahl as Frank Fowler, a 21-year-old architectural student spending the summer lobstering in his hometown of Camden under the protective gaze of his parents, Matt and Ruth.

As played by Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek, who deliver the best performances of their careers, Matt and Ruth have their own ideas about Frank’s relationship with Natalie (Marisa Tomei), a married woman 10 years his senior who has two small children and an abusive husband (William Mapother) who dislikes being estranged.

While Ruth is clear in her disapproval of Frank’s relationship, Matt favors it, secretly enjoying the idea that his son has attracted the attention of an older woman, the type he might have fancied in his youth.

But as this excellent film moves toward its stunning turning point, one that can’t be revealed here because so much of the film’s success hinges on its surprise, Matt and Ruth are forced to face the ramifications of their differences in opinion and all that has cost them.

Field’s focus, once on Frank and Natalie, suddenly shifts to Matt and Ruth, becoming an examination of the rage, guilt and grief boiling within them as their once stable marriage threatens to fall apart.

With the exception of the film’s opening, which features Natalie resting in a meadow straight out of Andrew Wyeth’s painting “Christina’s World,” Field resists the urge to romanticize Maine’s landscape with cliched, picturesque images of shimmering ocean vistas and pretty wooden docks.

Instead, he uses those images as backdrops to frame the reality of coastal life-- canneries crowding the waterways, fish bait stinking up the docks. It’s an insider’s view that gets the small details right, respecting the complexity and beauty of Maine without sacrificing the truth.

There is so much to enjoy and appreciate in “In the Bedroom,” I wanted to see it again upon leaving the theater. Filled with dozens of local extras, all of whom provide the authentic Maine accent that eludes its principal cast (as good as Tomei is, she sounds as if she’s from a tough suburb of Boston), the film isn’t just a triumph for Field, but one for the people of Maine.

At my screening, which was sold out, a buzz went through the crowd each time a Maine landmark was recognized or when a member of the community took to the screen. For me, the moment came when Corinna Skall, a former assistant producer at Channel 2 who’s now one-half of the popular Chuck and Cori morning show on Z-107, appears in a handful of scenes as a reporter.

Toward the end of the movie, there’s a shot of Camden Harbor that Mark Robson first captured in “Peyton Place,” the 1957 movie filmed in Camden 35 years ago that starred Lana Turner and Hope Lang.

It’s remarkable how little has changed, but what’s just as interesting--and telling--is how this small bedroom community is still seducing audiences with the secrets it apparently keeps behind its closed doors.

Grade: A