Take This Waltz

Take this Waltz is a splendid contemporary portrayal of the openness of sexual normativity. The vacuousness of marriage in the present, with ample birth control and luxurious abundance that makes child-rearing no longer a mandatory course of human life but a consumerist decision - like whether to upgrade television sets - is seen in all of its decay.

Margot seems to have a friend more than a husband. They play childish games together and act as bedtime companions. She is supportive of his chicken recipes, but to an extent. She seeks more from her life and her hubby is not giving it to her.

Conveniently, she finds some chemistry while on a writing trip to Montreal. And even more conveniently, that excitement in her life follows her home. The man who so seamlessly energizes her to the point she plans her day around waking up to stalk her now-recognized neighbor, provides what little significance she has in her life. It is a replacement for creating this significance. She wants to write her own works for instance, and when cornered about why she hasn't begun, she is left creating a diversion.

Her intrigue in the sexy neighbor is another such diversion in her life. The chemistry they immediately amplify shows to her some sort of serendipity in the entire ordeal. It does not matter to her that, through her wedding vows, the life she leads is no longer completely solitary. Historically, a husband and wife have been seen as creating a new life, with each a part of the assembly. Thus, Margot's interest in another man takes no consideration of the participation of the other member of her life.

Obviously not-and in general, the reprehensibility of infidelity underlies the self-indulgence of the act. Technically, however, the film is clever to preserve the matrimonial vows - yet the underlying self-indulgence cannot be escaped by simple cultural normativity. Unsurprisingly, Margot abandons a man who is making something with his life - a successful book, something she is incapable of making herself - and decides to indulge.

The audacious sexual montage is perfect to encapsulate the ecstasy of the indulgence. We see immediately after the ending of her marriage Margot and the man engage in penetrating intercourse, which then follows into several highlighted ménage-a-trois, accentuating the self-centered ness of her decision making.

Wisely, the film does not contemplate on such sexual narcissism. It uses the scenery to reveal how ephemeral her lust actually is. Instead of looking to her husband for support in becoming a better woman, Margot follows the cultural acceptance of women's liberation: one can disavow her marriage for no sufficient reason - or for an absurd reason such as having a lustful fantasy realized.

When matrimony was respected, men and women of course had sexual urges towards other people. Yet the significance and indeed burden of marriage has always been in the culturally perceived permanency, or sacredness, of the vow.  As contributory to the sacredness has been in the creation of the family. 

At present there is no natural tendency, neither natural order, for the logic of marriage. It is treated as a custom, really the aftermath of a large party, more than a formal institution. The meaning has been lost to the point where the reality of a fantasy can destroy its establishment.

I commend the film for its realism; that in the end, childishness cannot be a lifestyle.

Grade: A-