flashbacks that show her falling for his boyish
charm and promise of a life together to the nasty
fight that ends it all. Their happy memories of the
time before they were married are contrasted to a
climactic weekend spent in the “Future Room” of a
theme motel, an arrangement that Dean hopes will
rekindle their love. When it doesn’t, he provokes an
ugly argument at the doctor’s office where she
works as a nurse; consequently, she is fired, and he
walks off into the distance, with their young daugh-
ter begging him to come back, as the movie ends.
Such a story—so unlike Stella Dallasand so rec-
ognizable in our time—requires two actors who
can truthfully convince us of the characters’ range
of intellect and emotions as they watch their mar-
riage crumble. Williams and Gosling were so com-
mitted to bringing the story to the screen that they
served as the film’s executive producers. Thus they
helped to formulate the process by which the movie
would be shot. Indeed, this is an excellent example
of how filmmaking affects acting, especially in a
low-budget, independent movie such as Blue Valen-
tine. The actors and director agreed that the film
would be made in three stages. As we’ve already
noted, the movie relies heavily on continual flash-
backs that contrast the first part of this couple’s
relationship, which was happy, with the last part,
which was not. So the first stage was to shoot those
happy scenes, all together, with seldom more than
one take for each. There were no rehearsals. And
the director, Derek Cianfrance, chose to shoot on
traditional film stock because it lends a romantic334 CHAPTER 7ACTING
Cindy and Dean are married Cindy and Dean’s wedding
takes place in the office of a justice of the peace. She wears a
white lace dress and cries tears of joy as she looks up at
Dean and repeats the vows. The couple has taken a great risk
in getting married, but they are happy as they begin their life
together. The director chose to shoot all scenes of the
couple’s past on film stock, and the bright light flooding the
office fades the colors of her face and Dean’s jacket (right),
making the image look old, as was intended.
12The marriage falls apart Two incidents, among others,
indicate that Cindy and Dean’s marriage is falling apart. In
image [1], Cindy, upset when their pet dog is killed by a
passing car, watches stoically as Dean buries the body in
their yard. It’s an omen of what’s to come, just as Dean’s
attempt to rekindle their marriage in the “Future Room” of a
motel backfires. Soon, looking haggard in image [2], Cindy
has one last fight with Dean. She’s determined not to give in
to his pleas for another chance and, within minutes, he walks
out of her life. The use of digital cinematography for these
scenes gives them the real-life look of a documentary film.