In the Bedroom

In the Bedroom
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Todd Field
Produced by	Todd Field Ross Katz Graham Leader
Screenplay by	Todd Field Robert Festinger
Based on	Killings  by Andre Dubus III
Starring	Tom Wilkinson Sissy Spacek Nick Stahl Marisa Tomei
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Antonio Calvache
Editing by	Frank Reynolds
Studio	Good Machine Eastern Standard Film Company GreeneStreet Films
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	November 23, 2001 (2001-11-23)
Running time	130 minutes 138 minutes (Sundance)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.7 million
Box office	$43,368,779

In the Bedroom is a 2001 American crime drama film directed by Todd Field, and dedicated to Andre Dubus, whose short story Killings is the source material on which the screenplay, by Field and Robert Festinger, is based. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, and William Mapother.

The title refers to the rear compartment of a lobster trap known as the "bedroom" and the fact that it can only hold up to two lobsters before they begin to turn on each other.

Plot

The film is set in the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine. Dr. Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek) enjoy a happy marriage and a good relationship with their son Frank (Nick Stahl), a recent college graduate who has come home for the summer. Frank has fallen in love with an older woman with children, Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei). Frank is also applying to graduate school for architecture, but is considering staying in town to work in the fishing industry and be near to Natalie. Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother), whose family owns a local fish-processing and delivery business, is violent and abusive. Richard actively tries to find a way into his ex-wife and son's lives, going to increasingly violent lengths to get his intentions across to Natalie. Ruth is openly concerned about Frank's relationship with Natalie, while Matt sees past his wife's worries.

Midway through the film, Richard kills Frank during a confrontation at Natalie's house, following a domestic dispute. Though equally devastated, Matt and Ruth grieve in different ways with Matt putting on a brave face while Ruth becomes reclusive and quiet. Richard is set free on bail, paid by his well-to-do family, and both Matt and Ruth are forced to see Richard around town. The tension between the pair increases when they learn that the lack of a direct witness to their son's shooting allows the killer to avoid murder charges, since the district attorney may have difficulty proving that Richard killed Frank intentionally, as opposed to accidental manslaughter in a struggle which defense attorney Marla Keyes (Karen Allen) argues. The silence between the couple erupts in an argument where each is confronted with the truth about each parent's relationship with their son: Ruth was overbearing and Matt let him get away with everything. With the strain between them broken, the couple is finally able to find a common ground in their grief.

Finally, Matt abducts and kills Richard. He and a friend then bury the body in the friend's woods. Matt returns home to Ruth, who is awake and smoking in bed, the first words out of her mouth are, "did you do it?". Matt appears troubled and unresponsive. He climbs into bed and then turns away from her. Finally Ruth gets up and leaves to make coffee. Matt rolls over onto his back and pulls a band-aid from a finger he injured hauling traps. Ruth calls from the kitchen, "Matt, do you want coffee?" But Matt doesn't answer, he just stares up at the ceiling as the smoke from Ruth's cigarette on the other side of the bed appears to rise out of his supine chest.

Cast

• Tom Wilkinson as Matt Fowler
• Sissy Spacek as Ruth Fowler
• Nick Stahl as Frank Fowler
• Marisa Tomei as Natalie Strout
• William Mapother as Richard Strout
• Celia Weston as Katie Grinnel
• Karen Allen as Marla Keyes
• William Wise as Willis Grinnel
• Justin Ashforth as Tim Bryson
• Camden Munson as Jason Strout
• Frank T. Wells as Henry

Critical reception

Upon its release, the film was internationally praised for its direction, script, and performances, possessing a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A.O. Scott included the film in his New York Times essay "The most important films of the past decade — and why they mattered."

"… a genuine modern tragedy. It's also the best movie of the last several years: the most evocative, the most mysterious, the most inconsolably devastating… I could barely breathe; I swore at the screen; I called for blood; I cried for vigilantism to restore the natural order; and I sat in shock when the natural order was and wasn't restored. That's the thing about a masterpiece like In the Bedroom. It isn't over when you leave the theatre. It isn't over when you brood on it for days. It's just always going to be there, in the air…"
David Edelstein, Slate Magazine

"It is apparent that Field has not only studied the masters of cinematic understatement, such as Ozu and Bergman, but that he fully understands their processes. Consequently, this is a film that lives beyond its two hours. Field's achievement is such a perfectly consummated marriage of intent and execution that he need never make another movie. I would not be alone, I think, in hoping he will make many more."
Neil Norman, The Evening Standard

"Like Kubrick, Field's direction manages to feel both highly controlled and effortlessly spontaneous at the same time; and his lifting of the facade of this picturesque, Norman Rockwell setting is carried out with surgical precision… also like Kubrick, Field doesn't make any moral judgments about his characters, and his film remains stubbornly enigmatic. It can be read as a high-class revenge thriller, an ode to the futility of vengeance or almost anything in between.."
William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Box office

With the exception of Napoleon Dynamite, In the Bedroom had the largest box office of any film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in the last decade. The film grossed a worldwide total of $43,368,779.It went on to become the highest-grossing non-IMAX film in history to never reach the top 10 in a given week.

Accolades

Awards won are in Bold.

• Academy Awards:
  1. Best Picture (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field)
  2. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  3. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  4. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
  5. Best Screenplay - Adapted (Robert Festinger and Todd Field)
• BAFTA Awards:
  1. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  2. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
• Broadcast Film Critics:
  1. Best Film (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field)
  2. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  3. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
• Chicago Film Critics:
  1. Best Film (Todd Field)
  2. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  3. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  4. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics:
  1. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  2. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
• Florida Film Critics:
  1. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
• Golden Globe Awards:
  1. Best Film - Drama (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field)
  2. Best Actress - Drama (Sissy Spacek)
  3. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
• Independent Spirit Awards:
  1. Best First Feature (Todd Field)
  2. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  3. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  4. Best Screenplay (Robert Festinger and Todd Field)
• Los Angeles Film Critics:
  1. Best Film (Todd Field)
  2. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
• National Board of Review:
  1. Best Director (Todd Field)
  2. Best Screenplay (Robert Festinger and Todd Field)
• New York Film Critics:
  1. Best First Film (Todd Field)
  2. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  3. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
• Online Film Critics:
  1. Best Film (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field)
  2. Best Director (Todd Field)
  3. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  4. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  5. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
  6. Best Screenplay - Adapted (Robert Festinger and Todd Field)
  7. Best Breakthrough Filmmaker (Todd Field)
• Satellite Awards:
  1. Best Film - Drama (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field)
  2. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  3. Best Supporting Actress - Drama (Marisa Tomei)
  4. Best Screenplay
• Screen Actors' Guild Awards:
  1. Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson)
  2. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  3. Best Ensemble Cast
• Southeastern Film Critics:
  1. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)
  2. Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei)
• USC Scripter Award:
  1. USC Scripter Award (Robert Festinger and Todd Field (screenwriters);Andre Dubus (author))
• Vancouver Film Critics' Circle:
  1. Best Actress (Sissy Spacek)

Film archives

A 35mm safety print is housed in the permanent collection of the UCLA Film & Television Archive

External links

• Official website
• In the Bedroom at the Internet Movie Database
• In the Bedroom at AllRovi
• In the Bedroom at Box Office Mojo
• In the Bedroom at Rotten Tomatoes
• In the Bedroom at Metacritic

Publications

• 'In the Bedroom' Without Frills – 9 August 2002, New York Times
• The Best DVD's of 2002 – 3 January 2003, New York Times
• [1], The Film Journal Review of In the Bedroom by Rick Curnutte
• In the Bedroom: A Screenplay
• In the Bedroom, preface by Todd Field

Academic papers

• International Psychoanalysis, I Know Not Seems by Harvey Roy Greenberg 30 April 2009