I am a 20-year old man who loves epic sagas. The more out-there the idea, the more it puts a smile on my face. The average tale of domestic difficulty is one that seems to me to be, while often solidly executed and emotionally strong, not my cup of tea by any means. So when I went into the screening of Hope Springs, I was not expecting much. I knew I wasn’t the target audience by any means, and I thought that at least the film might keep me interested. Hope Springs did far more than that: it gave me an emotional tale that had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved every minute of it and truly think this is a film that anyone will enjoy, regardless of what your personal tastes are. This wonderful little film has the heart of a thousand big ones, and it shows.
The film, directed by David Frankel, revolves around a couple, Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) and Kay (Meryl Streep), who have been married for thirty years, but all is not well with their marriage. Neglect and a basic dull routine form the cornerstone of their relationship now, and they choose to get counseling. From the very beginning the film took me by surprise in that the problems the couple faced was not based in anger or a lack of love, but was based instead in apathy. The film opened itself up to questions about the nature of true love and how people love each other over time, instead of merely just being a story about a couple fighting and then making up. The love is presented in such a way in that at points you wonder how the two of them could have ever fallen in love, and at other times you find yourself genuinely questioning if they made a mistake when they got married. Beneath the polish and the humor and the psychiatrist’s couch is a story that asks questions about love and emotions and how we relate to it as human beings, not just as couples.
The script, unfortunately, is not mindblowing, but it is adequate enough. The laughs in the film are more chuckles than belly-laughs but the film is not an insane comedy as much as it is a heartfelt story with a little humor in it. What does help the script, and makes the film succeed as a whole, is the acting. Jones and Streep are, in a word, perfect. The nature of the roles call for dealing with uncomfortable situation
s in the most human of ways, and they both excel at that, a far trickier task than one may think. A scene of emotional intensity can be easy to pull off, since one can go wild. A quiet scene where people do next to nothing is far tougher, and in the absence of dialogue, body language must go on to save the day. And their body language is excellent. Every chance they have to show their inward thoughts about a situation they do, from awkwardly picking at their clothes to the most subtle of eye movements. And when they have dialogue, it’s rattled off like it just sprouted from their brains—quite an illusion considering how long it is likely they had the lines memorized for. The emotional core of the film is reflected in their performances, to the point where you stop seeing them as big-name actors and start looking at them as their characters. They truly are a treat to watch and make the film a real delight.
Rating: While not a masterpiece, an absolute joy to watch from start to finish (8/10)
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