Between Us

Although it does not match the level of the masterpiece of the form, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Between Us is what Roma Polanski’s Carnage should have been – an uncomfortably cruel baring of rankling antipathies.

The opens with Julia Stiles’ obviously unimpressed character at the door of her apartment addressing unseen visitors with the words (or something close to them): “ It’s real surprise to see you guys here”. Then the film starts and we find out to whom she is talking and what she said what she said.

Stiles plays Grace who is married to Carlo (Taye Diggs) and living in a small New York apartment, Their visitors are Sharyl and Joel (Melissa George and David Harbour). The men are buddies from college days when they both studied photography.  Joel went into advertising, moved to the Mid-west and made a lot of money.  Carlo stayed true to the artistic dreams of their youth and as a result is broke.

Based on a play by Joe Hortua who adapted the screenplay with director Dan Mirvish the film oscillates between the present and two years earlier when Carlo and Grace got caught in the crossfire of Sharyl and Joel’s disintegrating marriage.  Tables have turned now, however with the latter couple having weathered the storm and reconnected and Carlo and Grace drowning in debt and on the verge of splitting up.

I always enjoy film that try to capture the volatility of human relationships and if the inversion seems a little too symmetrical there is still plenty to savour in the display of simmering resentments here. Much like Polanski’s film Between Us doesn’t stray too far from a stage presentation, interpellating some arty flourishes early in the film that, mercifully, fade away after a while and the performances are all strong.  There are a few frustrations however: the “after what happened” premise of the estrangement between the two couples is not developed strongly enough to justify the two year hiatus; given Sharyl’s reconciliatory spirit she turns too easily against Carlo and Grace once the pleasantries are over and a chance to really demonstrate her friendship manifests itself; and the resolution is brought off too easily. Whether the first two are a function of the original play or the transposition to the screen I cannot say but the last one seems to be a function of the performances – there needed to be a much greater catharsis on everyone's part in order to bring the scenario to a satisfactory conclusion.

Although not an unqualified success, particularly if you enjoy watching people behaving badly, Between Us is worth checking out.

Available from: Eagle Entertainment

 

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