
Dean Pereira and Cindy Heller Pereira are a young, working class married couple - Dean currently working as a painter, and Cindy working as a nurse in a medical clinic - with a young daughter named Frankie. Despite their relatively tender ages, they are both ravaged by the life they've eked out together and by the experiences they've had leading into their marriage. Dean, a high school drop out, comes from a broken home, where he never really had a mother figure. He never saw... (Full plot summary below)
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Dean Pereira and Cindy Heller Pereira are a young, working class married couple - Dean currently working as a painter, and Cindy working as a nurse in a medical clinic - with a young daughter named Frankie. Despite their relatively tender ages, they are both ravaged by the life they've eked out together and by the experiences they've had leading into their marriage. Dean, a high school drop out, comes from a broken home, where he never really had a mother figure. He never saw himself getting married or having a family despite falling in love at first sight with Cindy. He doesn't have any professional ambition beyond his current work - which he enjoys since he feels he can knock off a beer at 8 o'clock in the morning without it affecting his work - although Cindy believes he has so much more potential in life. Cindy also comes from a dysfunctional family, with her own mother and father not setting an example of a harmonious married or family life. One of her previous serious relationships was with Bobby Ontario, that relationship which has a profound affect on many aspects of her marriage to Dean. Dean and Cindy head off on an overnight getaway together without Frankie, the getaway which may provide a clearer picture if their marriage can survive its many issues.
Leave your thoughts about Blue Valentine.
| Film Comment MagazineLaura KernUnlike Bergman's searing Scenes from a Marriage, which sustains itself for every one of its 299 devastating minutes, Blue Valentine begins to falter somewhere during its 114. |
| Tri-City HeraldGary WolcottPowerful stuff. At times you feel like an intruder; an eavesdropper on conversations you aren't meant to hear. |
| Las Vegas CityLifeMatt KelemenThe time spent ... bringing to life these characters enabled the actors to reach a level of naturalism that can't be achieved by conventional role casting. Cianfrance, Gosling and Williams literally created a family, then let it self-destruct. |
| Groucho ReviewsPeter CanaveseA postmodern tragedy of two people at odds who are both right and both wrong in their argument, sharing responsibility for the birth and death of love. |
| HollywoodChicago.comBrian TallericoA powerful drama, partially made so by a fantastic script, but mostly due to two of the best performances of the year from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Don't miss it. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleWhat do we expect of a spouse? "Blue Valentine" makes us ask that question. |
| Village VoiceKarina LongworthEven when transparently plumbing for depth, Cianfrance's film is frustratingly surface-bound in ways that reflect, if not out-and-out misogyny, then at least a lack of interest in imbuing his female character with the rich interior life and complicated morality he gives his male lead. |
| USA TodayClaudia PuigGosling and Williams have the most palpable chemistry of any screen couple this year, never striking a false note in this achingly tender tale of a love that implodes before our eyes. |
| The A.V. ClubNathan RabinIt's an emotionally claustrophobic drama, played with frayed nerves and raw emotions, and it serves as an unrelenting glimpse into relationship hell. It could easily have devolved into sweaty, pretentious melodrama or ersatz John Cassavetes if Cianfrance and his actors didn't maintain perfect control over the material. |
| iamROGUEJimmyOBlue Valentine is like a sad, sad song that you can't get out of your head. You know it'll make you cry and possibly bring up painful memories, but you have to hear it. |