Take This Waltz

A film about a marriage, set in Toronto. Margot is a freelance writer. Her husband Lou is writing a cookbook about chicken and spends his days in the kitchen. They have been married five years; there is no problem between them and no fighting, only something that has stopped. On a work trip she meets a man named Daniel. They sit on the same plane, share the same taxi, and it turns out he lives on the street across from hers. From there the film is about indecision itself rather than a moment of decision. Margot does nothing; she just walks down that street every day. The best thing about it is the weight of ordinary scenes: a shower, a swimming pool, a kitchen table. Near the end there is a fairground sequence that passes a long stretch of time in a single shot. Michelle Williams plays Margot, Seth Rogen plays Lou and Luke Kirby plays Daniel. Sarah Silverman is in the cast, unusually in a dramatic part. Sarah Polley directed; the title comes from a Leonard Cohen song. A strong example for anyone who likes relationship drama and narratives that explain nothing. For a viewer expecting the film to take a side, it proves nobody right and offers no comforting ending.