Blue Valentine

Theatrical Release Date: 2010 12 29 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 013132317892

Studio: Starz/Anchor Bay

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Strong Sexual Content, Profanity]

Summary: A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Film Presented – Sundance Film Festival Film Presented – Cannes Film Festival Best Female Lead – Independent Spirit Awards Film Presented – AFI Fest Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Film Presented – London Film Festival Best Actor – London Film Critics Association Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: Audio commentary with director Derek Cianfrance and co-editor Jim Helton
The making of Blue Valentine
Deleted scenes
Home movies

Blue Valentine

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 05/10/2011

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 112 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Blue Valentine
1. Chapter 1 [6:57]
2. Chapter 2 [6:09]
3. Chapter 3 [5:58]
4. Chapter 4 [3:25]
5. Chapter 5 [9:53]
6. Chapter 6 [3:12]
7. Chapter 7 [7:20]
8. Chapter 8 [7:18]
9. Chapter 9 [3:32]
10. Chapter 10 [12:32]
11. Chapter 11 [9:21]
12. Chapter 12 [6:50]
13. Chapter 13 [2:54]
14. Chapter 14 [5:49]
15. Chapter 15 [6:19]
16. Chapter 16 [9:14]

Perry Seibert

As Tolstoy famously began Anna Karenina, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Director Derek Cianfrance's drama Blue Valentine probes the death throes of a marriage that's become so singularly and uniquely unhappy that it will unsettle viewers with its frankness. The film jumps back and forth in time during the relationship of Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams), who meet, fall in love, sacrifice for each other, and eventually become toxic for and to each other. A large chunk of the film's action takes place in "The Future Room," an outer-space-themed hotel room the two visit -- at Dean's insistence -- in the hopes of rekindling their dying love with the help of copious amounts of booze, and privacy from their elementary-school-age daughter. This trip is intercut with moments from earlier in their lives -- like when they first met at the retirement home where Cindy's grandmother lived, and when Dean's goofy impulses were amusing to Cindy. As their date night comes to a close, the duo returns to regular life and eventually accepts some hard truths. Movies about crumbling marriages offer actors more chances to show off the range of their talents than almost any other kind of story, and that certainly holds true for Blue Valentine. Fortunately, Cianfrance casted a pair of gifted young performers as his leads. Williams and Gosling are superb here, and if forced to give one an edge over the other, it's Williams by the slimmest of margins. This comes down to the fact that Cindy has a more complex backstory; we see how bad the relationship she was in just before meeting Dean was, and gain a clear understanding of the emotional issues that keep her unsettled. Williams makes sure Cindy's sadness remains at the forefront of the character's outlook on life -- her happiness during the early times with Dean is a brief moment she doesn't know how to sustain. For his part, Gosling possesses a particular kind of fearlessness that's welcome in any actor, and particularly rare for one his age -- he's absolutely uninterested in being sympathetic. When we learn the dark secret at the center of Cindy and Dean's marriage -- the fact that not only allowed them to stay together, but arguably doomed them -- our opinion of his character shifts dramatically. Everything about Dean that both we and Cindy found annoying suddenly appears in a different light; his occasionally callous immaturity is a direct response to the pain he feels at her inability to return his innate selflessness. If it were structured a little tighter, Blue Valentine would hit with the force of Greek tragedy, but Cianfrance strives for a more loose, John Cassavetes-inspired feeling with each of the scenes that makes every conversation an unadorned exploration of often painful feelings -- he's not as interested in building tension as he is in getting the truth of every moment. In lesser hands, that approach would turn this material into little more than an acting exercise -- and there are moments where the film does indulge the actors a little too long. But these are minor quibbles, as Cianfrance's script, his direction, and his flawless casting make Dean and Cindy remarkably specific people. He drills so deep into their emotional cores that anybody who has ever been in a long-term relationship -- successful or not -- will recognize aspects of themselves in these two star-crossed lovers. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michelle Williams  Executive Producer 
Derek Cianfrance  Director 
Derek Cianfrance  Screenwriter 
Joey Curtis  Screenwriter 
Ryan Gosling  Executive Producer 
Alex Orlovsky  Producer 
Jack Lechner  Executive Producer 
Doug Dey  Executive Producer 
Jamie Patricof  Producer 
Lynette Howell  Producer 
Grizzly Bear  Composer (Music Score) 
Cami Delavigne  Screenwriter 
Scott Osman  Executive Producer 
Ryan Gosling  Actor 
Michelle Williams  Actor 
Faith Wladyka  Actor 
John Doman  Actor 
Mike Vogel  Actor 
Marshall Johnson  Actor 
Jen Jones  Actor 
Maryann Plunkett  Actor 
James Benatti  Actor 
Barbara Troy  Actor 
Carey Westbrook  Actor 
Ben Shenkman  Actor 
Eileen Rosen  Actor 
Enid Graham  Actor 
Ashley Gurnari  Actor 
Jack Parshutich  Actor 
Samii Ryan  Actor 
Mark Benginia  Actor 
Timothy Liveright  Actor 
Tamara Torres  Actor 
Robert Russell  Actor 
Michelle Nagy  Actor 
Felicia Reid  Actor 
Mel Jurdem  Actor 
Alan Malkin  Actor 
Derik Belanger  Actor 
Isabella Frigoletto  Actor 
Madison Ledergerber  Actor 
Jaime Jensen  Actor 

Country: USA