There’s not a single movie Michelle Williams has been in that I haven’t loved, so of course I couldn’t wait to see this one. And I wasn’t disappointed. “Take This Waltz” is set in an idyllic quarter of Toronto one long hot summer where free-lance journalist Margot (Williams) lives in seemingly domestic contentment with her devoted husband of five years, cookery book writer Lou, touchingly played by Seth Rogan.
The story is told almost entirely from Margot’s point of view whose restlessness we pick up on right from the opening shots, where we observe her in the act of listlessly baking muffins, staring into space and wondering, what if?
What if appears in the guise of Luke Kirby, whom she meets for the first time when she visits Louisbourg, an 18th century French settlement in Nova Scotia, where scenes of life are re-enacted for the entertainment of the tourists. Margot is there to update the town’s advertising material. She is called upon to whip an errant male adulterer who has been dragged through the streets by the militia, and there, in the town square, she has her first encounter with Luke.
Later on they meet on the plane going back. He is surprised to see her being brought on in a wheelchair when she’s clearly able-bodied. She finally admits that she’s faking a disability to cover her real fear – one of being lost in terminals, afraid of missing her connection and of “being in-between things”.
Being in-between things is really what the film is about. When they share a taxi from the airport and it becomes clear that they are very close neighbours, it feels inevitable that an affair will be the result, since they’re both clearly attracted to each other.
But Sarah Polley (Away From Her), who scripted as well as directed this modern day Brief Encounter deftly side steps the clichés. There’s real truth in this film about how it feels when you reluctantly find yourself falling in love with someone you shouldn’t. When Margot finally follows her heart she escapes a whipping like her predecessor in Louisbourg, but she can’t escape the emotional consequences of her adultery.
And then, right at the end of the film, in another kitchen now and baking a different batch of muffins, that old familiar feeling of ennui returns. The waltz continues. Five stars.

On the list as one to see. Sounds good. Nice piece . Thanks.

Z

Hope you manage to get to see it, Zettel!