The movie I watched this weekend for the module 9 activity was “Faithful” which is a 1996 American comedy crime drama film. The movie was filmed and directed by Paul Mazursky and starred Chazz Palminteri, Cher, and Ryan O’Neal with a few attempts to open up the action in the film, such as a glimpse of Ryan O’Neal having an affair with a younger woman at work. The main dialogue about the faithless husband, Ryan O’Neal, comes midway in the movie to give the audience a clue to the construction of the film’s actions, which mostly take place inside the enormous home of “two people” who “get married in church” while O’Neal “hires a stranger” Palminteri “to kill” Cher, O’Neal’s wife. As the movie is based on a stage play, it primarily focuses on dialogue rather than the suspense of the plot through the real danger and threat of divorce or actual relationships.
The movie portrays marriage as an action: “Two people get married in a church, and one of them hires a stranger to kill the other” (“Faithful”), revolving the story around Margaret (Cher), whose husband Jack (O’Neal) is having an affair at his workplace. Jack, on their 20th wedding anniversary, gives a diamond necklace as a present to Margaret and, in the meantime, hires a hitman named Tony (Chazz Palminteri) to kill his wife, but when Tony comes over, he begins taking to Margaret, leading to unexpected complications in the traditional marriage of both Margaret and Jack. As for the portrayal of marriage in the movie, Jack’s infidelity and the subsequent involvement of Tony explores the complexities of a long-term and untraditional relationship.
The relationship depicted between the couple is far from traditional, and the threat of betrayal and violence significantly impacts the characters even though divorce is not explicit in the movie. Given the circumstances, the untraditional relationship between Jack and Margaret becomes strained due to Jack’s affair, which has caused impending danger to their relationship. However, as I kept watching the movie, I realized that the film was just about dialogue, and there was never a moment when I found Cher in serious danger or threatened by divorce. In terms of realism, no danger to any character, the wit of the dialogues, and the physical presence of the actors blend humour with a darker theme of betrayal in the relationship for the movie but not for the greater realism of the film. Moreover, the exchanges between Tony (hitman) and Margaret (target) are clever, so the lack of three-dimensional relationships makes the movie feel less realistic.
The film “Faithful” offers an untraditional and unconventional take on relationships between couples and the institute of marriage as it delves into the emotional struggles faced by couples on an everyday basis despite the fact the movie does not depict divorce directly. The way the film portrays the institute of marriage and how a couple betrays each other even after a long-term relationship depicts that real-life marriages are subjective. While the marriage and the relationship between Margaret and Jack may not be a straightforward representation of marriages or relationships that are observed in daily routines in society, the quirky characters and exaggerated situations between the couple, as well as the hitman and Margaret, contribute to the intriguing exploration of the marital dynamics. The movie “Faithful” is diverting because of the actors’ appeal and the fact that it is really not about anything, which is why it lacks depth for the audience in terms of realism and actual marital dynamics. Ultimately, the movie leaves a little at stake for the audience.
Works Cited
Faithful. Directed by Paul Mazursky, performances by Cher and Ryan O’Neal, New Line Cinema, 1996.
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