To Stay, To Leave

Take My Eyes (4.5/5 stars)

This movie is a nice character study about a woman in an abusive relationship who alternates back and forth between deciding to leave or be with her husband. We see why she leaves; he seems to get angry at her for doing anything that provides her with happiness. Yet we also see why she stays; they have their happy moments, he attempts therapy for his anger, and she is obviously in love with him.

What's good about this movie is that it doesn't need to rely on an over-villification of the husband in order to prove the point. Very little physical abuse is shown. We do see his extreme emotional weakness and the way he takes it out on his wife in the form of anger and mental abuse that make you wonder why she hadn't left a long time ago despite the good things. This is enough, we can see how broken she is when she is around him yet how strong she can be when away (particiularly when shown at her work, as a guide at an art museum). The choice seems simple looking at it from the outside, but in real life it probably never really is.

Both lead performances are very well done, especially the wife. And the realism and less-is-more approach with the writing and directing serve the movie very well. This has a pretty small release so most people would probably need to catch it on DVD, but it is well worth it.