Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: David Frankel
Quick Impressions:
Had the remake of Total Recall still involved Mars, I can guarantee that my husband and I would have chosen that as our movie of the week. The Curiosity landing has everyone abuzz at our house. Even my three-year-old can’t get enough of Mars-themed activities, so if Colin Farrell had headed toward the red planet, we would have been right there with him. Even better, what if someone had made a movie about exploring Mars starring Meryl Streep (my husband’s favorite actress by a mile)? But that movie doesn’t exist (that I’m aware of), so this week we had to settle for Meryl Streep exploring Maine (and the mechanics of her unhappy marriage to Tommy Lee Jones).
The Good:
Even though I was in the mood for fast-paced science fiction, I was still more than satisfied with Hope Springs, a relationship drama that succeeds entirely because of strong performances by both charismatic leads.
I’m not implying that the script is bad. (Far from it. The writing is good, and, while I’m at it, the soundtrack is quite catchy.) I’m just saying that the movie would not work without two strong lead performances since more than any other film in recent memory, Hope Springs keeps a tight focus on the relationship between two people. And that is it.
Viewers spend an intensive hundred minutes in a theater watching Kay and Arnold (played by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) spend an intensive week in couple’s counseling. A handful of other characters pop up, but none of them does much. Most of these supporting characters have the complexity of a jack-in-the-box. When Kay or Arnold stand around turning their metaphorical cranks, somebody’s got to show up, but once these necessary characters emerge, they have absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go but back offscreen. In other words, don’t go to this movie because you’re a Designing Woman fan pining for Jean Smart.
For the sake of realism, the leads must encounter other people. Both Arnold and Kay have a casual friend at work (Jean Smart, Brett Rice). They have grown kids (Ben Rappaport, Marin Ireland, Patch Darragh) and neighbors (Mimi Rogers). They meet several hospitality workers and store clerks during their stay in Maine. But these people are only there to give Arnold and Kay an excuse to verbalize and to provide them realistic feedback. Having Elisabeth Shue show up as a bartender who gives sex advice may be inspired casting, but it’s not a great role. In most cases, the names of the actors are far more interesting and complex than anything said or done by the characters they portray.
As the marriage counselor, an incredibly understated Steve Carell plays an important role but an essentially static character. Dr. Feld is only there to help Kay and Arnold. Who he is outside the office does not matter.
So that is what this movie is about—two sixty-somethings spending a week with a therapist in Maine, earnestly trying to save their marriage.
There’s no contrived conflict acting as a catalyst. Something just isn’t right, and it hasn’t been for a while. Even if Kay and Arnold can discover why things feel off, can they find a way to make their marriage strong again? Neither wants the marriage to end, but Kay begins to worry that perhaps it already has, and Arnold finally catches on to this depressing reality.
This is definitely a movie for grown-ups. (Children will not get the point but will undoubtedly be far more curious about the sexual content than their parents can bear.) Hope Springs is funny and engaging but definitely not for the whole family. Its conflict is mature, and it raises an important question—When two people care so deeply about one another, what keeps them from finding the kind of marriage-sustaining love they seek? Anyone who has had a long-term relationship ought to be able to relate to this story to some degree, to appreciate the fact that love really makes no sense on paper and surprises us with all kinds of apparent paradoxes in practice. Hope Springs is a well-acted, compelling drama about what it means to be in love and what it takes to make a marriage work.
Funniest Moment:
The humor in this movie is so realistic, and I kept laughing out loud over and over again. Still, I expected more of a comedy. Frankel and Streep’s previous collaboration, The Devil Wears Prada, was much more unmistakably a comedy.
Hope Springs is definitely a drama with comedic elements. Its humor comes from its realism, so it manages to be laugh-inducing and kind of sad at the same time. Both leads are sympathetic and genuinely suffering, so you laugh both at and with them, but you never feel exactly pleased about it.
Tommy Lee Jones has most of the movie’s funniest moments. Probably because he reminded me so much of my father, the scene when they order their first breakfast in Maine before meeting Dr. Feld cracked me up way more than it should have. I literally laughed out loud so hard that I had to force my voice to cut out to avoid looking crazy in the theater. His comments as they walk through the streets of the town for the first time are fantastic, too.
Another wonderfully funny (and uncomfortable) moment comes when Dr. Feld asks Kay about her fantasies. This would not work at all if not so well played by all three actors. How Steve Carell manages to keep up that calm, unflappable persona is beyond me.
Best Scene:
What happens in the movie theater really works. Not only is the scene funny (and awkwardly delicious and uncomfortable), but in its aftermath, Meryl Streep’s character in her despair at being undesirable seems more desirable than she ever has (though she does not realize it). She complains that she hasn’t been herself, but I think she’s more herself at this moment than she has been so far.
As Jones pursued her into the street, the ultimate outcome of their struggles became completely clear to me. (Not like it wasn’t mostly clear from the get go, of course.) Watching their brief interaction in the street, you suddenly get them as a couple and think, Oh, I see why he fell for her now.
(Of course, my husband points out that women who are vulnerable, nervous wrecks win my heart every time, so maybe others won’t consider the scene as powerful.)
The Performances/The Characters:
Even though I think the world of Meryl Streep, in this particular ensemble, Tommy Lee Jones gives the stronger performance. Initially Arnold seems so unsympathetic (though amusing), but what initially appears to be apathy about his marriage eventually starts to look like something else entirely—a paralyzing terror of losing what little he has left. As the movie opens, you wonder, Is this marriage worth saving? Does he love his wife at all? Arnold’s eventual explanation about why he dislikes the idea of therapy explains so much and resonated very strongly with me.
Streep gives a wonderful performance, too, of course. She always does. (That’s probably why his impressed me more. She’s spoiled me with wonderful performance after wonderful performance. Jones is a great actor, but he doesn’t always get the opportunity to play such a nuanced character.) After the movie, my husband commented that Streep’s character always seemed very “cute.” In my opinion, she was just a little bit too cute. I thought Streep might have benefitted by cuting up the screen just a little bit less. Still, I mean, she always gives a great performance. She’s Meryl Streep. And I do applaud her fearless portrayal of an aging woman fearfully exploring her sexuality. One of my favorite things about this film is that it neither glamorizes nor trivializes Kay and Arnold.
Kay is an average, middle class woman in her sixties who actually looks like an average, middle class woman in her sixties. Saving her marriage is desperately important to her, and to save her marriage, she must restore intimacy. I think it’s safe to say that at this stage of the game, Meryl Streep does not need to flaunt her sexuality in order to get work. But sexuality is of utmost importance to Kay, and I think seeing a woman like Meryl Streep portray the sexual insecurities of an aging woman with fearless honesty and grace is definitely good for women in general. The movie (not for children) never panders. Nothing about it seems cheap or tawdry. But it is very real, and if you never thought you’d see a sixty-something Meryl Streep masturbating, wearing nighties that clearly show the outline of her nipples, or attempting to perfect her fellatio technique, then prepare to have your mind blown.
Steve Carell’s performance is really something. Dr. Feld really is only there to ask the right questions, listen to the answers, and provide feedback. He doesn’t provide a lot of feedback, however. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen Carell do anything so subtle before. His calculated non-reactions are pretty impressive. The intense therapy sessions usually made the audience wince, cringe, gasp, and laugh out loud, but Steve Carell’s Dr. Feld just sits there calmly, taking it all in. He’s doing good work but not upstaging his patients at all. I can’t even think of another performance that compares to this. Carell keeps the focus firmly on Jones and Streep, and there’s plenty to look at there. I also can’t think of the last time I’ve seen a film character with such an important role remain so static and mysterious to the audience. I’m not sure if I like that or not, but I do think it would have been a mistake to pull focus from the protagonists by making the therapist really wacky or something.
The Negatives:
I don’t know who did the hair-styling and make-up for this movie. From the looks of things, it was me. I know the characters are supposed to seem real, but I think at times, they are a little bit too frumped up. It gets increasingly ridiculous, particularly the hair (although in the final scene during the credits, Tommy Lee Jones’s hair looks so ridiculous that it might actually be an intentional joke).
Jones and Streep really reminded me of my parents in these roles. (Of course, my own parents could never fall into a dynamic like the one shown as the movie opens. Instead, they would both talk to each other endlessly about how they never talk to each other. That silent efficiency wouldn’t work for me, either. After the movie, I told my husband, “I would have picked up the frying pan and thrown his breakfast at him screaming, ‘Talk to me! You have to talk to me!’ until he talked to me.” He agreed.)
The fact that they did remind me (to a degree) of my parents made some scenes extra funny. But, of course, my parents are both just about sixty.
Sometimes the characters felt a little too manufactured. Some of the biggest discoveries they made in therapy seemed almost too stereotypical. It’s the same story you always hear everywhere—the marriage breaks down because the wife craves emotional intimacy while the husband craves sexual intimacy. The man and woman have different needs and (more importantly) different ways of expressing those needs. Communication breaks down; intimacy vanishes.
Then again, it’s better to have something common and realistic at the core than something contrived and melodramatic.
I’m also not sure that I completely buy Streep’s character. She’s ready for self-examination and genuinely willing to change, but I still tend to doubt the woman is being completely honest with herself. But maybe that doesn’t matter. The movie is less about self-discovery than the rediscovery of why the two individuals work as a couple.
Also, the movie is pretty short, but I still thought the last act dragged a little. Genuine suspense would have been one thing, but does anybody watching ever truly doubt the outcome we’re going to get? Ordinarily, long, mindless action scenes cause me to tune out the movie I’m watching and imagine the actors from that blockbuster in more character-driven scenes instead. During Hope Springs, for possibly the first time, I noticed the opposite happening. The very end of the movie took so long to arrive—(and is that supposed to be some kind of metaphor?)—that I started imagining more improbable, blockbusterish scenarios. What if Arnold had some secret too dark to be revealed in therapy—“I’m actually a cyborg,” “You’re really a cyborg, and my dead human wife looked just like you,” “I’m not your real husband. You’ve been to Recall!”? I mean, after all, they named him Arnold.)
Honestly, I think the ending is beautiful and works better because it feels real, so I think the movie makes the right choices. Delaying gratification makes the satisfaction sweeter. But if the ending hadn’t paid off, that long, dull, agonizing wait would have been a major strike against Hope Springs.
Overall:
You don’t have to be over sixty to relate to the characters in Hope Springs. This movie has something compelling to say to anyone who’s ever been in a long-term relationship. Anchored by strong performances from Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, and Steve Carell, Hope Springs is sweet, sad, funny, and ultimately rewarding. Don’t take your kids, though. Children won’t understand the movie (causing boredom for them) but just might understand why Meryl Streep’s character is caressing that tube of cookie dough (causing discomfort for their parents).