"A 'Room' With a View"
by Scott Mantz

"In The Bedroom"
Sissy Spacek,
Tom Wilkinson
Directed by Todd Field

Ordinary parents! Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek try to pick up the pieces in "In The Bedroom"

Grief (gref) noun - emotional suffering, as caused by bereavement, affliction, remorse, panic, or despair.

No matter how you define it, grief isn't pretty. It's an unpleasant experience that different people deal with in different ways, and as comforting as friends and family try to be, grief is a personal nightmare that takes time to run its course (if it ever does). That time is under close observation in Todd Field's deep, devastating, and hypnotic directorial debut "In The Bedroom." Powerful without being forced, dramatic without being artificial, and effective without being manipulative, "In The Bedroom" is that rare gem of a movie--one that holds your attention so firmly, you simply don't want it to end.

In the peaceful seaside town of Camden, Maine, the Fowlers--physician Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and his schoolteacher wife Ruth (Sissy Spacek)--don't really approve of their only son Frank's (Nick Stahl) relationship with Natalie (Marisa Tomei), a single mother of two who is a few years his senior. They want Frank to go away to school so he can study to be an architect, but after one too many domestic disputes between Natalie and her emotionally unstable ex-husband (William Mapother), Frank gets caught in the middle and pays the ultimate price. It's a crushing blow to Matt and Ruth, but even more devastating is how they deal--or more to the point, how they don't deal--with their grief.

There's a scene in the middle of "In The Bedroom" that defines the emotional power of the film. In an attempt to make sense out of the tragedy, Matt visits Natalie at the mini-mart where she works. They are both feeling the same thing--complete and utter devastation--but try as they might, they can't find the words to comfort each other. For the audience, nothing has to be said, as the pain that they share is permanently etched in their eyes, their actions, and their emotions. It's called "acting," my friends, and dealing with the death of a loved one hasn't been captured this realistically since Robert Redford's Oscar winning "Ordinary People" more than 20 years ago.

"In The Bedroom" boasts what are easily the most Oscar-worthy performances of the year. Sissy Spacek is spectacular as Ruth, the quietly opinionated mother who's so uptight, you can hear the eggshells crack around her the moment she appears on the screen. In the aftermath of her son's death, she becomes more reserved, as she clearly doesn't know how to deal with the pain. By contrast, Tom Wilkinson--in a career-defining performance--is internally screaming to be embraced, and he becomes even more devastated when the one person he needs the most (his wife) isn't there for him. It's only a matter of time before they explode, and explode they do, blaming each other and aggravating what is already a fractured relationship to begin with.

The supporting cast is also in top form, as Marisa Tomei finally justifies the Oscar she won for 1993's "My Cousin Vinny." Nick Stahl displays the purity of the lone son whose good deed leads to tragic consequences, while William Mapother is right on target as the estranged husband who emotes plenty of chills during his relatively brief screen time. If Mapother looks familiar, he should. He's Tom Cruise's cousin, and he can be seen in the background of most of Cruise's recent films. With "In The Bedroom," he finally makes a name for himself, and his excellent performance will undoubtedly lead to more commanding screen roles down the line.

By examining the drastic actions that we sometimes take to get over our grief, writer/director Todd Field (who, as an actor, played piano player Nick Nightingale in "Eyes Wide Shut") takes the film into uncharted waters before it finally docks on a chilly, barren port of call. It's a jarring and slightly uneven detour from what preceded it, but it's relenting power is just as devastating. And though it may not have the happiest of endings, the film still leaves you with an everlasting message: While wounds may heal, scars remain, and aggravating that scar just might re-open those wounds with even more horrifying and devastating results.

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