This film contains the line, “Sometimes I’m walking down the street and a ray of sunlight hits the pavement in a certain way and I just want to cry. If you think that’s a deep and meaningful thing for someone to say you’ll probably find Take This Waltz to be a deep and meaningful exploration of desire and adultery. However, if like me you find that line ridiculously precious and pretentious then you will not enjoy this film; in fact it will probably make you quite angry. This is the quirkiest of quirky indie dramas and the quirk levels are off the charts.
Michelle Williams plays Margot, a struggling writer who doesn’t seem to be struggling all that much as she lives in a beautiful house in a plush Toronto neighbourhood with her cookbook writer husband Lou (Seth Rogen), who’s also supposed to be struggling but again there is no evidence of this. Despite the struggling, the two are living in quirky marital bliss until Margot meets new neighbour Daniel (Luke Kirby), a spectacularly quirky individual who paints quirky portraits and rides around on a rickshaw all quirkily. Margot and Daniel are clearly made for each other because they’re both obsessed with Margot.
That’s basically the plot; Margot wants to cheat on Lou with Daniel but doesn’t want to hurt her husband. Simple. But unlike similarly quirky affairs which are least over fairly quickly, Take This Waltz is two hours long. This is mainly because every ten minutes or so there’s a slow motion sequence of Margot doing an everyday task while looking forlorn or sharing a long lingering look with Daniel whilst some maddeningly twee indie rock tune plays. There is a total lack of momentum in the plot and spending two hours in the company of these quirky bastards is an endurance test.
It’s written and directed by Sarah Polley who’s best known as an actress (personally I’ll always think of her as Sally Salt from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, now there’s a film that knew how to be properly strange) but she does have a visual flair and the film is shot beautifully. It’s incredibly colourful giving it the appearance of a well-made kid’s film, which I’m sure is deliberate as the main characters are all inveterately childish.
Polley adopts the now tired sub-Wes Anderson ticks that are the mainstays of quirky drama but she throws in some weirdness all of her own like a bizarre sex scene that seems to have taken its inspiration from Team America and is about as erotic as it was with puppets. There’s also a scene where Margot goes to an aquatic aerobics class with a group of old ladies and then for some reason we get to see them all take a long naked shower. That is a scene that will now haunt me forever. Clearly, I can’t handle the quirk.
Overall Verdict: It looks nice but it’s yet another self-consciously quirky indie drama that isn’t as cute or as deep as it thinks it is. This is a rough ride for all but the quirkiest viewers.
Special Features:
Taking the Waltz’ Featurette
Trailer
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon