Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance wrote the script over 12 years and 66 drafts, and says that time went into the feeling rather than the plot. The shoot took 30 days. The two timelines were recorded on different material: the past on Super 16mm, the present on the RED One. The past was shot almost entirely on one lens, handheld, mostly in master shots; for the present Cianfrance used takes running up to an hour, so arguments run past where a scene would normally cut. Between the two blocks the production broke for a month, which Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams spent living in the couple’s house, on 200 dollars every two weeks for groceries, washing their own dishes. Williams was nominated for the Academy Award for actress in a leading role, which went to Natalie Portman for Black Swan. It was rated NC-17 in October 2010; after the distributor appealed, the board overturned that unanimously on 8 December and it opened with an R. A good fit if you want a breakup not traced to a single event, with neither party in the wrong, and can sit inside long takes that refuse to resolve. Not for viewers looking for a reconciliation scene: it sets the two periods side by side and lets you watch the hope run out.