Hope Springs

Meryl Streep is the best actress of our generation, period. In all of her films I have seen, she has been perfectly cast, be it her identical performance in The Iron Lady, the lovely Julia Child in Julie and Julia, any role. And despite the fact that this is neither of the 3 main stars' best roles (the others being Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell), the chemistry between them is magnificent enough to hold the whole film together. The premise goes that Jones and Streep have been married for 31 years. He wakes up to breakfast and coffee on the table every day. They sleep in separate rooms and have not had sex in 4 years.  For their anniversary he gets her a water heater for the house. So Streep consults Dr. Bernard in Hope Springs, Maine, played in deliciously nuanced form by the always good Carell, and suggests the idea to the stingy Jones. He begrudgingly agrees and they fly off. The rest of the film is pure brilliance, in which we are invited to marvel at the three leads talk in uncomfortable detail at their dull marriage. Although it is barely a stretch for Jones to play grumpy old man, he does it with grace and class. And on top of the laugh out loud moments lies poignancy and a biting message about ageing and what it really means to be married to someone.

7/10

Teo