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Hope Springs2012 | 100 min | PG-13 | 2.39:1
For a mainstream release, “Hope Springs” has some very profound ideas to share about the wilds of marriage and the labor of personal communication, packaged in a broad comedy-drama that enjoys the pressures of discomfort, especially communicated by the likes of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. The odd couple makes for a believable pair of wounded spouses looking for a chance to love again, making the occasionally strained material and pushover direction feel heartfelt and achingly human. It’s far from a coldly precise European dissection of martial life, insisting on a sense of humor to ease viewers into unnerving conversations about sexual desires and long-term commitment. 
Married for over 30 years, Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) are empty-nesters lacking spark in their shared life. Facing her concerns, Kay books a stay in small town Maine, planning to express her fears to renowned marriage counselor Dr. Feld (Steve Carell). Convincing Arnold to join her, the couple settles into the idyllic hamlet of Great Hope Springs, with Kay looking to save her marriage, while Arnold frets about fees and his own comfort sharing secrets with a stranger, berating his wife for even considering such a confrontation. At first apprehensive about the process, Kay and Arnold begin to implement Dr. Feld’s suggestions of physical contact and honesty, discovering a tremendous divide in communication and basic needs of seduction, frustrating the couple as they make baby steps toward the intimate contact they’ve been avoiding. It’s not an easy road, with Arnold’s temper and Kay’s anxiety flaring up, requiring Dr. Feld to dig deeper and find the love that’s been buried under decades of routine. “Hope Springs” is a spare motion picture, practically a filmed stage play at times, with numerous scenes devoted to the therapy process with Kay and Arnold, allowing the actors to feel their way around the moment without storytelling pressure standing in their way. It’s a brave approach in this day and age to make a movie about two people talking, yet director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada”) and screenwriter Vanessa Taylor (“Game of Thrones”) remain committed to the cause of communication, studying the shades of unease and deflection shared between the couple as they dissect their frosty union. Frankel plays it safe, placing Dr. Feld’s practice in an overly quaint town, while leaning on conservative soundtrack choices to speak for the characters when words fail them, yet the essence of “Hope Springs” remains with matters of the heart, and who better to express the nightmare of therapeutic stress than Streep and Jones. 
The clarity of characterization in “Hope Springs” is frequently stunning, with Streep articulating Kay’s instinctual mousiness with subtle tilts and shifts, while Jones rants with ease, establishing Arnold as a man of simplicity and distance (the pair don’t share a bed), frugal to a fault. With sizable passages of dialogue to compute, the leads are outstanding, feeling natural as an estranged couple who want to learn how to relate again, yet seem powerless to break down the emotional barriers between them, heading back to the immediate ease of habits at the first sign of a breakthrough. Taylor’s screenplay doesn’t shy away from awkward matters of physical needs either, burrowing straight into conversations about sex, with a few failed experiments pumping oxygen into the effort, helping to process the embarrassment shared by the couple and the audience. Most of the picture simply stays on Streep and Jones as they stumble through complex feelings fussed over by their characters, isolating the distress that comes with verbalizing desires. Despite its candy coating, “Hope Springs” carries extraordinary realism, sure to rub off on viewers dealing with similar domestic issues. 
“Hope Springs” feels pared down from a longer cut, with Elisabeth Shue popping in for a single scene as a local bartender, while other supporting cast members (including Jean Smart and Mimi Rogers) are hustled through the story in a hurry. The last act tends to drag to emphasize marital ruin that’s already easily understood, finding Frankel flattening the film to improve post-screening digestion. It’s unnecessary, especially with such fully formed performances expressing a wealth of difficult emotions and itchy personal interaction. The end is served sunny side up, but don’t let it fool you. “Hope Springs” has an exceptional command of martial nuance and an appreciation of annoyance, with all the studio shenanigans getting in the way of an enlightening, possibly even restorative movie. Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart, Elisabeth Shue, Mimi Rogers Director: David Frankel » See full cast & crew |
 
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