TAKE THIS WALTZ
Canada, 2011, 116 minutes, Colour.
Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman.
Directed by Sarah Polley.
Take this Waltz is really a psychological and emotional portrait of a 28 year old woman who has been married for five years, Margot. She is played intensely, with both sadness and joy, by Michelle Williams who has been emerging as a strong actress in a variety of films from Meek’s Cutoff to her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.
Margot is married to Lou, an expert cook who is trying out recipes for chicken. Seth Rogen plays Lou as a genial man who loves Margot and is happy to say ‘I love you’. However, the audience senses, as she does, that there is something incomplete in her relationship with her husband. When she meets Daniel (Luke Kirby) at a theme park and then on a plane, she is immediately attracted to him but does not quite know what this attraction is or what it means. While she is attracted to Daniel, she is distracted from Lou.
She seeks out opportunities to talk with Daniel, watch him, since he lives across the street. Daniel is cautious and does not want to do anything improper. However, at a café one afternoon, they have a conversation where a great deal of erotic behaviour is described and relished. Is this where the breakdown of her marriage is consummated or has it been a longer, slower process. On the occasion of their fifth wedding anniversary, Margot and Lou are given a rickshaw ride by Daniel. Their conversation at the meal means that Lou does not grasp what is happening to Margot and to their marriage. When he does realise what is happening, he lets her go – with great regret.
Daniel has moved away, but Margot follows him. The climax of their relationship is offered in a stylized way, to the lyrics and melody of Take This Waltz and a succession of erotic tableaux.
After the excitement comes the ordinariness. Margot gets the opportunity to see Lou again when he calls her to come when his alcoholic sister, Geraldine (Sarah Silverman) has a relapse. Geraldine, however, gets the opportunity to voice her reactions and those of the family to Margot’s behaviour.
We are left with Margot quietly cooking in her kitchen. Sarah Polley has a career as an actress but she also wrote Away from Her, a fine story of an ageing woman with Alzheimer’s Disease. Once again, she has a portrait of a woman, a much younger woman who forgets her life with her husband, away from him.
1. An adult film, themes, treatment, issues? Love, sexuality, commitment?
2. The Canadian settings, the theme park at Louisbourg, Toronto, an urban film?
3. The title, the song and its use for the culmination of the relationship between Margot and Daniel? The other songs, dancing, lyrics?
4. The opening, Margot cooking the cakes, the man walking into the room? The transition to Lou? The scene repeated at the end – and the man being Daniel? What had happened to Margot in between?
5. The portrait of Margot, Michelle Williams and her performance, twenty-eight, five years married, love for Lou, the commitment, life with Lou, at home, his cooking, their meals, in bed, the shower and his joke with the cold water? Yet a dissatisfaction? Wanting affection, sensual response, touching Lou and his reaction? Their exchanging words of love, how much felt? The fifth anniversary, the rickshaw ride, the dinner, the discussion? With Lou’s family? The meals? The aerobics in the pool – and the comedy about the pool? Her relationship with Geraldine, Geraldine’s alcoholism? The other members of the family?
6. At Louisbourg, taking notes, writing the brochure? The re-enactments, the whipping of the condemned man, Daniel calling out to Margot? Her negative reaction? At the airport, Daniel seeing her in the wheelchair, on the plane, seated together, talking, the milk drink, her reading, watching Daniel sleep? Arrival at the airport, the taxi, Daniel living nearby?
7. The effect of her encounter with Daniel, attraction, interest, liking him, sharing with him, physical, psychological, emotional? The meetings and their talking? At the pool, the beach, walking? At his house? Watching him? The rickshaw ride? Geraldine’s party and her discussion with him?
8. Daniel as a character, his age, the attraction, talking with Margot, neighbour, watching her, the meetings, his being proper, their not kissing? The significance of the scene in the cafe, Margot and the long sensual description, his response? Lou meeting him, inviting him into the party? His reaction at the party, leaving?
9. Lou, five years married, his commitment to Margot, words of love? The rickshaw ride, the anniversary, going to the film, the meal, the discussion after the meal? Margot going out during the night, walking, coming back late, in bed? Seeing Margot and the response to Daniel? His realisation?
10. Margot, her imagination, with Daniel? Leaving Lou, the importance of the take this waltz scene, the camera circling, the differing phases of the lovemaking, the others present? The aftermath, settling down, on the couch, reading and watching television?
11. Geraldine, her character, her drinking, her supportive husband? Her speech at the dinner? Her daughter? Geraldine and her reaction, going to buy the chickens? The family gathered, the daughter wanting Margot to come? Geraldine talking directly to Margot, some straight talk? The effect on Margot?
12. The final talk with Lou? Lou as a good man, his book, his future?
13. Margot, her future, seeing her cooking again – and the realisation of her emotional journey?
