In the Bedroom
In the Bedroom is a 2001 American drama film directed by Todd Field from a screenplay written by Field and Robert Festinger, based on the 1979 short story "Killings" by Andre Dubus. It stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, and William Mapother. The film centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler (Wilkinson) is a doctor practicing in Maine and is married to Ruth Fowler (Spacek), a music teacher. Their son Frank (Stahl) is involved in a love affair with an older single mother, Natalie Strout (Tomei). As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of an unimaginable tragedy.
In the Bedroom
- Todd Field
- Robert Festinger
"Killings"
by Andre Dubus
- Todd Field
- Ross Katz
- Graham Leader
Antonio Calvache
Frank Reynolds
- Good Machine
- Eastern Standard Film Company
- GreeneStreet Films
- November 23, 2001
131 minutes
United States
English
$1.7 million[1]
$44.8 million[1]
The title refers to the rear compartment of a lobster trap known as the "bedroom" and how it can hold only two lobsters before the lobsters begin to turn on each other. In the Bedroom premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It was theatrically released in limited theatres on November 23, 2001, and grossed $44.8 million against a $1.7 million budget. The film was praised for Field's direction, its screenplay and the performances (particularly those of Spacek, Wilkinson, Stahl and Tomei).
In the Bedroom received 5 nominations at the 74th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (for Spacek), Best Actor (for Wilkinson) and Best Supporting Actress (for Tomei). The film also earned Spacek and Wilkinson nominations for Best Actress and Best Actor respectively at the 55th British Academy Film Awards and the 8th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Spacek's performance in the film earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress. Moreover, the film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of the year while Spacek's performance was named the best female performance of the year.
Plot[edit]
In the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine, Matt and Ruth Fowler enjoy a happy marriage and a good relationship with their son Frank, a recent college graduate who has come home for the summer. Frank has fallen in love with a divorced older woman with children, Natalie Strout; Ruth is concerned about the relationship, while Matt thinks it is only a fling. The family struggles to communicate their feelings to one another, especially regarding Frank's relationship and schooling.
Frank is about to begin graduate school for architecture but is considering staying in town to continue working as a fisherman and to be near Natalie and her kids. Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout, tries to find a way into his ex-wife and children's lives, going to increasingly violent lengths to get his intentions across to Natalie, including assaulting Frank.
Frank rushes to Natalie's home one evening after receiving a frightened phone call from one of her children. He arrives to find the living room trashed and Natalie in distress. She tells him Richard just left, but he returns almost immediately. Natalie takes the boys upstairs, and Frank insists through the locked front door that Richard leave. He feigns doing so, only to break in through the back door with a handgun; in the ensuing scuffle, Frank is shot and killed.
Though equally devastated, Matt and Ruth grieve in different ways, with Matt putting on a brave face and quickly returning to work, while Ruth becomes reclusive and quiet. The couple retreat with friends Willis and Katie Grinnel to a secluded cottage for a weekend, but Ruth is distant and Matt begins to drink heavily.
At Richard's bail hearing, Natalie is pressed by his lawyer if she saw the shooting as she testified when police arrived on the scene, to which she tearfully shakes her head, as she only heard what happened. The tension between Matt and Ruth increases when their lawyer informs them that because of the recounting of Natalie's original testimony, Richard was allowed out on bail, and his defense will argue that Frank's death was an accident, meaning Richard will most likely instead be charged with accidental manslaughter and will likely only serve five to ten years in prison. The couple begin to see Richard around town.
Matt approaches Natalie at work to check in on her and the two have a well intentioned but strained conversation. Matt attempts to go lobster fishing as a way to connect with Frank, but struggles with it and is pinched by a lobster, bandaging his bleeding finger. Natalie approaches Ruth at work and attempts to apologize, but Ruth slaps her before dismissively returning to her papers. Natalie leaves in tears. Later that day, Ruth accidentally runs into Richard at the grocery store.
When she returns home, an argument erupts between the couple in which each emotionally savages the other; Matt lambastes Ruth for being an overbearing presence in Frank's youth, while Ruth chastises Matt for showing little grief for their deceased son. After a young girl selling candy for a fundraiser interrupts the two, Matt apologizes to Ruth, who apologizes in turn and, breaking down, tells Matt about seeing Natalie and Richard. The two embrace and find common ground in their grief. Matt and Willis spend the evening drinking and lamenting the injustice, and Willis asks if the couple have considered moving or doing anything about Richard.
Matt abducts Richard at gunpoint, saying he's arranged for Richard to jump bail and leave the state, so as to spare them the pain of seeing him in Camden. He forces Richard to "pack clothes for warm weather" and plants a train schedule in his apartment. He then makes Richard drive them to the Grinnel cabin, where Willis is waiting with another vehicle. He begins to load Richard's belongings, but Matt hesitates - and then shoots Richard, killing him. Willis admonishes Matt for not following the plan. Matt responds that he couldn't wait. The two bury Richard's body deep in the woods but are stuck unexpectedly at a bridge crossing on their return home. Willis laments that this cost them nearly an hour - meaning they arrive back in town just after sunrise instead of in darkness.
Matt returns home to find Ruth awake. She asks, "Did you do it?" Matt appears troubled and unresponsive. He climbs into bed and turns away from her. She asks if he's okay, and Matt haltingly describes a photo he saw in Richard's apartment of him with Natalie in a loving pose but cannot explain why it affected him. Finally, Ruth gets up to make coffee. She calls from the kitchen, "Matt, do you want coffee?" but he doesn't answer. Matt unbandages his finger and finds the wound still there.
Release[edit]
Box office[edit]
In the Bedroom was the second highest-grossing film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival from 2000 to 2009, after Napoleon Dynamite.[7] The film grossed a worldwide total of $44.8 million.[8] It went on to become, at the time, the highest-grossing non-IMAX film in history never to reach the top 10 in a given week, and also one of the most successful films in history, with an expense-to-profit ratio of 1:25.[9]
Home media[edit]
The film was released on DVD in 2002 in a bare-bones edition containing no extras or director's commentary. When Field was asked by the New York Times why this was the case, he said, "Once a film is made available to the public, the right of interpretation belongs to the viewer. Unless it's something historical—like Citizen Kane or Raging Bull—it seems really silly to have that kind of thing."[42]
Film archives[edit]
A 35mm safety print is housed in the permanent collection of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.[43]
Popular culture[edit]
During season four (episode eight, "Mergers and Acquisitions") of The Sopranos, Tony shows Carmela the new media center he has installed in the pool house, and she replies that she will pick up In the Bedroom for them to watch.[44]