Take This Waltz Review

Polley shoots a Toronto summer in colors so saturated the city looks like a held breath, and the camerawork is the element nobody argues about. The film is built on discomfort rather than plot: long silences in a kitchen, a marriage made of baby talk and routine, and a want that Michelle Williams plays without ever asking to be excused for it.

Williams is remarkable, and Rogen surprises critics by underplaying the husband completely, giving Lou a warmth that makes the eventual cruelty of the situation land. Sarah Silverman's recovering alcoholic sister supplies the film's conscience and its sharpest writing. The objections are consistent. The whimsy is heavy, the scooter and the shower scene and the amusement ride set to a pop song, and several reviewers find the film precious where it means to be lyrical.

At close to two hours it circles the same insight for a long time before stating it aloud, which is the one move it should have trusted the audience with. The closing montage is either devastating or a cheat depending on the critic. What is not in dispute is that it takes a woman's dissatisfaction seriously and declines to punish her for it.