At a key juncture in the film "The Lovers," the character of Mary played by Debra Winger exclaims, "We're messed up, but we're not bad people." At least one character in the film, Joel, who is the son Mary and her husband Michael (Tracy Letts), punches a hole in the wall in the family home and turns into a bull in a china stop because he genuinely feels that his parents are bad people.
The DVD format of "The Lovers" includes a lengthy bonus segment entitled "A Complicated Passion--Making the Lovers." Writer-director Azazel Jacobs explains that the film "came out of a strange period of my life." In his attempt to devise an autobiographical film, Jacobs saw the family home as a kind of theatre with the characters self-consciously "putting on an act."
Indeed, the film has the feel of a work of theatre in primarily a four-character play. The dramatic tension is built between a husband and wife who are both having affairs and contemplating ending their marriage. Much of the dialogue is sentimental, anticipating a reconciliation of Mary and Michael.
The two lovers of the married couple, a ballet instructor and a strange man who appears to be a wannabe actor, both approach the respective husband and wife at one point, warning about the impending break-up. It was in those disturbing moments that the film began to get truly ugly.
A major problem with this film was whether this was a romantic comedy, a dark-edged drama, or a domestic tragedy. Actress Debra Winger offered a pinpoint analysis in the bonus segment when she confessed that "chaos is so overwhelming." While the film was successful in delivering the chaos of a middle-aged couple's troubled marriage, it was also a stylistic jumble as a slow-paced and rather depressing slice of life.
The DVD format of "The Lovers" includes a lengthy bonus segment entitled "A Complicated Passion--Making the Lovers." Writer-director Azazel Jacobs explains that the film "came out of a strange period of my life." In his attempt to devise an autobiographical film, Jacobs saw the family home as a kind of theatre with the characters self-consciously "putting on an act."
Indeed, the film has the feel of a work of theatre in primarily a four-character play. The dramatic tension is built between a husband and wife who are both having affairs and contemplating ending their marriage. Much of the dialogue is sentimental, anticipating a reconciliation of Mary and Michael.
The two lovers of the married couple, a ballet instructor and a strange man who appears to be a wannabe actor, both approach the respective husband and wife at one point, warning about the impending break-up. It was in those disturbing moments that the film began to get truly ugly.
A major problem with this film was whether this was a romantic comedy, a dark-edged drama, or a domestic tragedy. Actress Debra Winger offered a pinpoint analysis in the bonus segment when she confessed that "chaos is so overwhelming." While the film was successful in delivering the chaos of a middle-aged couple's troubled marriage, it was also a stylistic jumble as a slow-paced and rather depressing slice of life.