Rabbit Hole

Film: Rabbit Hole
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Counry: USA

Rabbit Hole is a very performance driven movie starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as the parents of a four year old child who was killed eight months prior to the fim, chasing his dog into the street. The film follows the expected course: The two have very different grieving styles that lead to a major blowout, then toward the end they find small ways to start to cope. In this case, due to the emotional nature of the subject matter, it's good that the plot doesn't deviate much from expectations, because it lets the strength of the performances drive the movie.

The movie opens softly, without telling you directly that the couple has lost a child. You see Becca (Kidman) acting antisocial to the neighbors without explanation. The film reveals what happened indirectly, when one of Howie's (Eckhart) friends suggests they have another child. This way, you see the couple as others perceive them without the insider knowledge. The two deal with their grief in very different ways which come into conflict. Howie wants to keep the constant presence of their son in the house, whereas Becca can't deal with that and wants to get rid of all the pictures, all the toys, and everything that constantly reminds her of him. They start out going to group counseling sessions. Howie wants to be social with the group, whereas Becca can't deal with all the religion talk that comes up. Becca wants to sell the house, Howie doesn't want to. Howie wants to start having sex again, Becca doesn't want to. All of these tensions threaten to break up their marriage (As often does happen after the loss of a child.)

The other major player of the film is the driver of the car who killed their child. He's a teenager who's about to leave for college. Becca spots him on a school bus and follows him. Later they meet at the park and talk. It's interesting the way they express this relationship. They talk existentially and get at the accident mostly indirectly. He goes on with his life and lives it like a normal teenager, but you can tell how crushed inside he is that he killed somebody. He talks in a way that makes it obvious that he's played the incident over in his head a million times, looking for any way he could have prevented the accident. You end up not feeling any anger or malice toward him, even though he's the one responsible for tearing apart Becca and Howie's lives.

The strength of the film, other than the great performances given by Kidman and Eckhart, is the way they address their very mundane subject matter. Whereas other films would be tempted to get melodramatic and have characters calling each other out on everything they've ever done, or swearing revenge on the driver of the car, Rabbit Hole expresses emotions in a way that's indirect but still very emotionally imminent. Becca and Howie have the constant presence of their grief, but they're also constantly aware of the pressure to express that grief in a socially acceptable way. They've both got their own emotional minefields, and will behave normally most of the time, then lash out whenever one of those mines is stepped on. But they're not angry at the person, they're just still devastated. The people who receive this anger try their best to be understanding and not taking it personally, but at the same time, are hurt like any regular person would be.

Rabbit Hole is the sort of film which, instead of trying to do something new and original, does something very mundane in a very nuanced way, and then steps back and lets the actors drive the film, making it one of the better films to come out in the year.

Style: 7
Substance: 9
Overall: 8
Accessibility: 8