In the Bedroom

In the Bedroom is a down-to-earth, realistic drama about a middle-aged, middle-class couple, Ruth and Matt Fowler, whose lives fall apart when tragedy strikes. Their only son Frank, who is home on holiday from university, is killed by the jealous ex-husband of his somewhat older girlfriend, Richard Strout, who is the son of the town's big shot.

Ruth and Matt have had a happy life together, but the tragedy makes them drift apart, each into their own depression. Neither of them manages to cope with the grief, and the anger and helplessness are not lessened by the fact that the trial is slow in coming and the killer can move about freely in the meantime. In the end Matt commits a desperate act in an attempt to normalise their strained relationship, but the film ends on an open note.

The director and screenwriter Todd Field has a point with some long, almost uneventful scenes just after the tragedy, that is to say a third of the way into the film, but it also has the unfortunate side effect that the intensity disappears. On the whole, however, In the Bedroom is a successful and uncompromising film about grieving, and the precise depiction of the milieu adds to the story's credibility.