Last night, at what I thought was my last chance, I saw the movie The Secret Lives of Dentists. It was great - very fascinating. The story revolves around a family of two dentists, David and Dana Hurst, and their family. Campbell Scott plays David and he absolutely owns this movie, as he suspects his wife of 10 years is having an affair. Unlike other recent movies about infidelity, such as Unfaithful, David's focus becomes about avoiding the issue. His thinking is - if he doesn't bring it up, it will resolve itself naturally and life will go on. If he brings it up, his wife will leave and all of the associated work and madness (separation/divorce proceedings, custody agreements for their three daughters, etc) begins.
The Hursts have three young daughters, and the unspoken tension between the parents is causing subtle physiological impacts on the girls. The movie shines in this portrayal of a family with exceptional performances by everyone, particularly by Campbell Scott as the devoted father. This is shown most strongly as the entire family comes down with the flu over the course of five days and the movie keeps itself contained primarily within the Hurst's home, since the principal focus is on David.
David concocts an imaginary friend during this time in the guise of a trumpet player as Denis Leary. David always tries to stay in control, has perfect teeth, etc. Leary's character is his opposite, David's vulgar side, always suggesting the sharper thing to say, to think, etc. There is a well played dynamic between the two, and it gives Leary a chance to be, well, Leary.
The movie also sneaks in some flashbacks and imaginations. David's imagination plays out very naturally as he has moments where he tries to plug in what really happened with his wife at the times he suspects her of being unfaithful. These are those little what-ifs we all imagine - "If we all went to the store when she asked, would she have still stopped by the house of her new lover?", "Maybe she showed up so late because there was a plumbing problem at the office and she couldn't reach me at the cabin?"
What made the movie such a good experience for me was how naturally it all played out. I actually found myself jealous of David's life - even though we all suspect what's going on (the story never strays from his point of view, for all we know we could be misreading the signs as much as he is). It is played out subtly and deftly. At one point, Leary's character asks David "why are you fighting for all this?" I was impressed by David's response, and I've been thinking about it since. It's not the big climax of the story, but in my opinion it is the big transition point right before the end. We're given final insight into his character. And it's a motive that we may or may not like as an audience.
Great yet subtle performances make this a fine film. Curiously enough, it's still playing here. It's been playing for a while and every week I miss it thinking "that's it, that's my last chance." One of the girls at the movie theatre last night told me that it was making more money than some of the other ones that had been there for nearly as long, so they opted to keep it. Excellent. Salt Lake has become a very good movie town.