She loves her husband, but sometimes feels pushed away, although he ever so gently does exactly that. He is a kind and loving guy; simple, too. It doesn't take much to make him happy, baby talk for example or chicken or someone who loves his ever so gently prepared chicken.
She meets the obvious perfect match on a trip elsewhere, and by coincidence he turns out to be her neighbor. Is it fate? I doubt it, but for the sake of the story it's totally logical for him to live accross the street. While she is already happily married for five years and is accepted in her husbands family, she is playing with fire by accidentally running into her ..., well, what is he - she didn't want to name or title him either her "lover" or "confidant" - so just her "neighbor". She doesn't dare to cheat on her beloved husband, nor can she not linger on the thought of being with the NEW. He is charismatic, creative, unwillingly a modern-hobo. I love watching him watching her. His look is truly full of a longing for her, yes, even love.
Some might call the pacing of the movie strenuous, however, I am delighted to have details and moments shown with a feeling, and feeling takes time, it requires time to develop it on screen, the information flow has to have time in order to reach the recipient, the viewer, so the so-called strenuously paced plot deserves the 2-hours or so on-screen-time. Although there is a perfect moment in the movie where I would have just stopped. It is when she and her "neighbor" spent a day together and end up in a disco-carousel (Scrambler) indulging in gravity and Video Killed the Radio Star, exchanging looks, closing eyes, enjoying. nothing. However, it continues showing how she really leaves her loving husband for the NEW. and the NEW gets old, too. I am grateful, that at least this message was conveyed at the end.
I also loved watching Take This Waltz for the sake of the setting, Toronto, Canada during a real long hot summer. Everything seemed warm and colorful, not too bright, but with a constant glow.
Coming back to the beginning. It was torturing watching her being torn, but never seduced by the NEW (! - he is pleasantly passive), she was indecisive with her inner self and gave in to her selfish desire to want something NEW. painful, truly painful. and wrong. She loves the old, has a fling for the NEW. Her life changed for a bit, but the same old structures returned, even with the NEW. New things get old.
Another last thing. The movie considered her being afraid of being afraid, the hate of being inbetween things, like airport connections. I liked how this early statement was confirmed during the story of her being inbetween emotions.
starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman
