Take This Waltz

Having explored the fading of a lifelong romance in Away from Her, writer-director Sarah Polley turns a tender lens on a relatively young one in which a happily married couple is threatened by lust over an especially steamy Toronto summer. At the center of the love triangle is Margot (Michelle Williams), who, although she still genuinely loves her husband Lou (Seth Rogen, in a genius bit of casting against type), feels restless in life and in love. Through Margot, Polley also examines an existential crisis particular to twentysomethings who, as they segue into what might be a perfectly comfortable and satisfactory situation, mistake it for unhappiness and unfulfillment. Yet her final judgment on the matter remains ambiguous, open to interpretation.
A writer who doesn’t do much writing other than marketing materials for tourist attractions, Margot lives with Lou in an aggressively bohemian house. He, too, is a creative type, heating up the kitchen as he tests recipes for his chicken cookbook. Although they’ve been married five years, theirs is still a puppy love. They role-play “bad baby” but can’t talk seriously about having one.
Enter Daniel (Luke Kirby), a rickshaw-runner by day and painter by night. Margot and Daniel meet-cute while she is away on assignment. They flirt on the plane and share a cab ride home, but when she discovers he lives across the street from her, she knows she’s in trouble. Saturated visuals by cinematographer Luc Montpellier and moody harmonies by composer Jonathan Goldsmith help convey the stifling atmosphere that has settled over her.