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Oscar®Oscar® Nominee for Best Actress in a leading role

Blue Valentine

MPA Rating: R-Rating (MPA) for strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating.
Moral Rating: not reviewed
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Adults
Genre: Romance Drama
Length: 1 hr. 52 min.
Year of Release: 2010
USA Release: January 24, 2010 (festival)
December 29, 2010 (limited)
DVD: May 10, 2011
Copyright, The Weinstein Companyclick photos to ENLARGE
Relevant Issues
Copyright, The Weinstein Company
husband wife relationship

TRUE LOVE—What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer

husbands and wives in the Bible

marriage

Is formalized marriage becoming obsolete? Answer
Many people are convinced that traditional marriages don’t work and that this practice should be abandoned. What does the Bible say about marriage?

DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE—Under what conditions may Christians divorce and remarry? Answer

divorce in the Bible

Sex, Love & Relationships
Learn how to make your love the best it can be. Discover biblical answers to questions about sex, marriage, sexual addictions, and more.
other issues

mother daughter relationship

death of a pet

premed student

ex boyfriend ex girlfriend relationship

father daughter relationship

grandfather granddaughter relationship

Featuring Ryan Gosling (Dean), Michelle Williams (Cindy), Faith Wladyka (Frankie), See all »
Director Derek Cianfrance
Producer Hunting Lane Films, Silverwood Films, Doug Dey, Carrie Fix, Ryan Gosling, Lynette Howell, Jack Lechner, Alex Orlovsky, Scott Osman, Jamie Patricof, Rena Ronson, Michelle Williams
Distributor Distributor: The Weinstein Company. Trademark logo. The Weinstein Company

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “‘Blue Valentine’ is the story of love found and love lost, told in moments past and present. This honest and moving portrait follows Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams who star as Dean and Cindy, a married couple who spend a night away from their daughter in an attempt to save their failing marriage.

Juxtaposed with playful scenes that trace their romantic courtship six years prior, Gosling and Williams journey through the brutal heartbreak that comes with fading love and broken promises.”

lust

drunkenness

TRUE LOVE—What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—I found “Blue Valentine” to be a great movie. The performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were so lifelike and extraordinary. I felt genuine empathy towards the characters on a level I rarely experience. The conclusion of the story was particularly heartbreaking, because both parents really love their daughter, even though they no longer love each other.

Having said all that, “Blue Valentine” would be extremely offensive to all but the more liberal-minded Christian. The language and strong sexuality are not suited to those who would rather avoid these issues. I found the film to be emotionally powerful and a reminder of the importance of a God-centered life.
My Ratings: Moral rating: / Moviemaking quality: 5
Morris, age 47 (USA)
Movie Critics
“…It’s hard, painful stuff. … …Approaching 50 f-words… asking couples to witness such an explicit portrayal of that brokenness is not going to help them fix their own issues. One does not (and should not) have to experience Dean and Cindy’s fictional divorce to understand just how devastating real divorce can be. …”
Adam R. Holz, Plugged In
“…two superb actors etch an unflinching portrait of a young marriage doomed never to grow old. … In this marriage, as in so many others, it’s the internal battle, the struggle with one’s own warring emotions, that exacts the greatest toll, and prompts those famously resigned words that leave victory indistinguishable from defeat: ‘I can’t do this. I can’t do this any more’.” [3½/4]
Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail
“…this is a movie which puts its audience in close, sometimes stifling proximity to a dying relationship, and I occasionally felt that it resembled, just a little, an indulgent actors’ project. …” [3/5]
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian (UK)
“…Virtuoso co-stars create a heartbreaking drama in ‘Blue Valentine’… it’s true that the movie is both emotionally violent and sexually explicit. Yet these scenes from a marriage are crafted with such attention to detail and overarching honesty that ‘Blue Valentine’ touches the heart.” [3½/4]
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“…obsessively mapped arcing and actorly ding-dinging at every emotional beat. There’s so much to admire in Derek Cianfrance’s marriage-in-crisis miniature that it’s that much more frustrating when it falls short of its promise. …” [3/5]
Kimberley Jones, The Austin Chronicle
“…Love story gone wrong is one smooth, dark heartbreaker… a small but shattering film that marks its writer-director, Derek Cianfrance, as an artist of real depth, observes relationship dynamics at a molecular level, welling with as much understanding as Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Scenes from a Marriage’.” [3½/4]
Kyle Smith, New York Post
“…In many films, it’s the past that poisons the present. ‘Blue Valentine’ works differently. It’s the terrible present, Dean and Cindy’s wrecked marriage, that makes the poignant, tender, nostalgic flashbacks seem so deluded. It’s the present that also may freak out moviegoers. ‘Blue Valentine’ is so nervy, so ‘real,’ that it poses a dire threat. Dean and Cindy are such decent folks. How do we know what happens to them couldn’t happen to us?…” [3½/4]
Gerald Peary, The Boston Phoenix

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