Rabbit Hole
October 2nd 2011 04:13
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Lead Cast: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest
Grief is difficult. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, and by degrees it doesn’t matter what the grief is about – it waits around until there is a moment when it seems less like grief and more like a memory. I doubt you ever really get over anything that causes grief.
Rabbit Hole is a simple film that follows a husband and wife through par of their grieving after the loss of a young son who has been run over chasing his dog into the street. It is a gentle movie. The complexity of the script is quite brilliant on some levels, for example there is a slow emotional burn of the man (Aaron Eckhart) and woman (Nicole Kidman) who have lost their son as they deal with mundane realities.
Do they keep his bedroom as it was? Do they get rid of the treasured dog that he ran out into the street after? It is all very painful to watch at times, but as they come around to accepting that there must be a future beyond the sadness and loss they feel, it becomes happy in a way. Happy in the sense that it shows there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The film is not too long and is paced well enough so as not to get too turgid. Performances from the lead cast are all extremely good. Nicole Kidman as the wife/mother does a fine job and Dianne Wiest as her mother who has also lost a son under different circumstances is quite lovely to watch. Aaron Eckhart continues to impress with his mixture of sensitivity and masculinity.
It is not likely to be the sort of film people rush off to see because it is after all quite a sad thing, but if you have been feeling down and out this could bring you some hope in so much as it shows the simple and gradual way people take back their lives without falling into the traps that seem quite a cliché – a dalliance outside of the norm for both the husband and the wife do not lead to an inevitable marriage breakdown or great angst.
There are moments where you will understand that loss – be it in the form of a child, a good friend or even a time in your life when things were very different ultimately shares a lot of space shape-wise on the emotional landscape, and this unassuming little film may bring a touch of comfort to your heart in that process.
David Jobling
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