Blue Valentine
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The Moonlight essay
CinemaBlue Valentine and Why a Beautiful Beginning Cannot Guarantee a Gentle EndingRead the essayStoryline
The whole story, ending included.
The beginning and the end of a marriage cut together; the MPAA's NC-17 for a scene of oral sex performed on a woman was appealed and overturned.
The film cuts between the start of Dean and Cindy's love and a single day and night, years later, when their marriage comes apart.
In the present, five-year-old Frankie wakes her father, Dean, because the family dog, Megan, is missing. Cindy, a nurse at Dr Feinberg's clinic, is exhausted and short with them both. Dean paints houses. On her way to Frankie's school, Cindy finds Megan dead by the road. Dean blames her for leaving the gate open, then breaks down as he buries the dog. He insists they leave Frankie with Cindy's father and go to a motel two hours away 'to get drunk and make love'.
Years earlier, Dean, a romantic high-school dropout working for a Brooklyn moving company, delivers furniture to a care home in Pennsylvania and sees Cindy, a pre-med student visiting her grandmother. Her parents' marriage is volatile; her father abuses her mother with words. Bobby, her boyfriend, violates her consent during sex, and she shuts him out. Dean contrives to meet her again on a bus, and they fall in love. Bobby and two friends beat Dean up at work. Cindy is pregnant and tells Dean the child is probably not his. She goes to a clinic for an abortion but stops it partway. Dean says they can raise the child together, and they marry before a justice of the peace.
At the motel Cindy rebuffs Dean, and they drink and fight about his lack of ambition. He keeps pressing and she gives in, then is dismayed when he asks her to have another child, and locks him out. Called in to work early, she takes the car and leaves a note. Dean takes the bus back and turns up drunk at the clinic, shouting. When Dr Feinberg intervenes, Dean punches him, and Cindy is fired. She asks for a divorce. He throws away his ring, and they search for it together. At her parents' house he begs her to try again for Frankie's sake. She says she does not want Frankie to grow up, as she did, with parents who despise each other. They hug; she asks for space. Dean walks away down the street. Frankie runs after him, begging him to stay, and he sends her back to her mother.
Starring
Ryan Goslingas Dean Pereira
A romantic high-school dropout, now a house painter and a devoted father, whose lack of ambition frustrates his wife.
Dean Pereira’s story
Dean works for a Brooklyn moving company when he delivers furniture to a care home and sees Cindy. He contrives to meet her on a bus, and her ex, Bobby, beats him up at work. When she is pregnant, probably not by him, he offers to raise the child with her, and they marry. Years later he paints houses and adores five-year-old Frankie. He blames Cindy for the dog's death, then weeps as he buries it. At a motel he presses her, asks for another child and is locked out. Stranded, he turns up drunk at her clinic and punches her boss. When she asks for a divorce he throws away his ring, then they look for it together. He begs her to try again for Frankie; when she asks for space, he walks away, sending Frankie back to her.
Michelle Williamsas Cindy Heller
A nurse who once meant to become a doctor, worn down by her marriage and offered a job in another city.
Cindy Heller’s story
Cindy is a pre-med student whose father abuses her mother with words. Her boyfriend, Bobby, violates her consent during sex, and she shuts him out. She meets Dean at her grandmother's care home and falls for him. Pregnant, and unsure the child is his, she goes to a clinic for an abortion and stops it partway; they marry. Years later she is an exhausted nurse whose boss, Dr Feinberg, is offering her a job in another city. At the motel she rebuffs Dean, gives in, then locks him out when he asks for another child. When he punches Dr Feinberg she is fired, and she asks for a divorce. She will not let Frankie grow up, as she did, with parents who despise each other, and asks for space. Frankie cries in her arms.
Faith Wladykaas Frankie Pereira
Dean and Cindy's five-year-old daughter, who runs after her father at the end.
Mike Vogelas Bobby Ontario
Cindy's boyfriend from her student days, who violates her consent and later attacks Dean with two friends.
Why it matters
Blue Valentine sets the start of a love beside its end and lets each explain the other. The courtship is tender and reckless; the marriage, years later, is exhausted, and the film will not name a single cause. To Cindy, Dean's devotion has become a lack of ambition; to Dean, her ambition has become coldness. Behind them stand the marriages they came from: Cindy grew up watching her father abuse her mother with words, and will not let Frankie grow up the same way. The film's intimacy caused a dispute in the United States, where it was first rated NC-17 for a scene of oral sex performed on a woman; Ryan Gosling called the decision sexist, and on appeal it was rated R. Michelle Williams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. The question it leaves is when a marriage that began in love may be allowed to end.