WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
Directed by: John Curran.
Produced by: Harvey Kahn, Naomi Watts & Jonas Goodman.
Written by: Larry Gross, based on the novellas We Don't Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus.
Director of Photography: Maryse Alberti.
Edited by: Alexandre de Franceschi.
Music by: Michael Convertino.
Released by: Warner Independent.
Language: with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: USA. 103 min. Rated: R.
With: Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause & Naomi Watts.

In the opening scene, a party with two thirty-something couples, a drunk Terry (Laura Dern) gracefully dances, not in a stupor, but consciously for the camera; she's not even moving to the music (which was most likely added in post-production). Meanwhile, her husband Jack (Mark Ruffalo) glares longingly at his wife's friend, the pert Edith (Naomi Watts). Out of beer, Jack offers to make a run to the store. Hank (Peter Krause), Edith's husband, nonchalantly suggests Edith go with his friend. On their errand, Jack and Edith can barely keep their hands off each other. Besides the beer, they score a date for the following afternoon. Well aware of their spouses' roving attention, Hank remains detached, while Terry later angrily confronts her husband, revealing that Hank made a pass at her.

These scenes from marriages in yuppie-dom wouldn't seem so predictable if the characters were engaging, but the four leads play their roles so internally that they rarely connect to each other or the audience. Only in rare moments do they come to life, as when Edith, with a wicked gleam in her eyes, jingles a hotel key in front of Jack, as if he were her pet dog. Hank is portrayed as a complete lout. Would a college instructor in this day and age really use the pick-up line, "Anyone who looks like you doesn't need extra credit"? (The setting, a New England college town, looks unmistakably like Oregon.) And it is unclear why this foursome would continue to socialize, risking betrayal and recrimination. It certainly isn't the camaraderie.

We Don't Live Here Anymore is Harold Pinter terrain in which intellectuals Jack and Hank both teach creative writing at the local college. However, the competition - sexual and otherwise - between these two alpha-males lacks tension or nuance, unlike Pinter's Betrayal. The film relies instead on a rigid set of comparisons and contrasts. Wealthier Hank and Edith live in a calm, airy home, while Terry and Jack neglect their dark, chaotic abode.

Based on works by Andre Dubus, adapter Larry Gross doesn't make the most of the story. Terry's inevitable encounters with Hank occur off-screen, and no tension between the two wives exists, even though they're close friends. (There's no cat fight - not even a hiss.) By downplaying the film's betrayals, We Don't Live Here Anymore is deprived of drama. Kent Turner
August 13, 2004