Little Children is a masterpiece, a deeply moving film about people that will seem just a real those that you know, some of whom you will love, some of whom you will hate. I have never been more involved in a movie romance than I have with this movie. I didn't care about the people they would hurt, the families that would break up, or the pain they would put their children though. I wanted these people to be together.
The lovers are Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson) both of whom are married and of whose marriges are in trouble. We sense that the problem with Brad and his wife is mores ituational than emotional. as the couple hardly has any time together after the birth of their children. The same cannot be said for Sarah, whose husband (Gregg Edelmen) is distant addicted to internet porn. One day, while taking the kids to the park, the two meet and fall for each other.
This sounds like traditional material, I know, but there is nothing formuliac about this film. I literally did not know what was going to happen next, but I knew what I wanted- on some basic level, Todd Field got me to feel what the characters were feeling- that they just HAD to be together no matter what. It is not a relationship forged out of desperation, but out of excitement. They need each other because they need irresponsiblity and adventure, and love, things that are in no sense guareenteed as they enter middle age.
There is another plotline in the film that is both frightening and heartbreaking. A sex offender named Ronnie (Jackie Earle Halley) has just been released from prison and has moved into the neighboorhood with his mother (Phyllis Sommervile). I hated Ronnie for something perverted that he did relativley early in the film (I won't reveal what). But then the hate turned into pity and disgust- Ronnie is a sick man who has done evil things, but he is not evil- he knows what he's doing is wrong, but is unable to stop. Watching his mother's pathetic efforts to give him a normal life and his inability to treat others as he wants to made me very sad for him. It is a testament to the emmense talent of Field that he allows us to feel sorry for Ronnie without taking away the henious nature of his actions.
All of the characters lives will reach a turning point on the same night. I won't reaveal what happens, but I will say that I left the theatre sad, wondering whether Sarah and Brad did the right thing. In the end, they did the moral thing, but I am not sure it was the right thing.
Regardless, this is a film that I am sure I will watch over and over again throughout my life. As I grow, I think the film will too. And I hope to God that I will one day love a woman in the way Brad loves Sarah-pure, exciting and erotic. I just hope I won't be married to someone else.
Little Children (2006)