Take This Waltz Review

• 17th Aug 2012

Love is loud. Love is bold. Love is splendid and on the not so rare occasion love is sh*t.  Writer/Director Sarah Polley show’s us all this and more in her beautifully painful depiction of love in its most triumphantly triangular form.

Without a wolf or vampire in site Polley beautifully sets the scenario of a young woman (seamlessly and effortlessly portrayed by Williams. Seriously, this woman is outstanding.) torn between two very real, very present and when faced off against each other very dangerous forms of love. New love versus true love.

With Rogan’ s face on the tin I wouldn’t be surprised if some people were a little surprised by the contents. This Waltz is in no way a care free weed fuelled romp around twenty-somethingdom.  By no means does it hit the darkness found in William’s previous real look on love gone broke in Blue Valentine however Polley does somehow guide us to a middle ground.  You want to judge the characters, in search of the villain, but you just give up when the message comes a blazing through…they’re just human.  Be it in their unquenchable desire to feel limitless or their complacency and contentment with what they have….they’re just like me and I challenge you to disagree…but I’m pretty sure on some level, they’re just like you too.  We are at times so spectacularly flawed and Polley somehow manages to break this to us cautiously and with an almost nurturing sensitivity.

I felt smitten, frustrated, angry and mesmerised all at once and as I sat there forming my very strong overly judgemental opinions regarding the actions of these mere mortals while also contemplating what I would do in such a situation I realised Polley had me.  I was involved. I didn’t feel like jumping for joy but I felt a part of what was unfolding before my very own eyes and that right there is the beauty of this film.

Rogan’s performance whilst not completely buffoon free is honest, endearing and a wonderful step further towards showing us his skill extends far beyond comic superbadland.  Williams is warm, adorable and heart-achingly lost and Kirby as the seductive spanner fate throws into Rogan and William’s sound suburban existence is entrancingly tantalising.

There are moments when I felt this films edge was not without intent (maybe tried a little too hard?) but with a very hip indie-film-esque soundtrack (think Garden State) Take This Waltz is for those who want to leave a film and think.  If you’re up for a Jen Aniston girl next door finds hot guy romantic giggle then I’d recommend going elsewhere however if human nature and the underlying influences that make our imperfections so damn inescapably glorious gets you going, as it does for me, then Take This Waltz is for you.

Kath Haling