Directed by Derek Cianfrance
Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams
Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) are married but their relationship is feeling the strain. Trying to reignite their spark with their daughter away for the night, Blue Valentine charts the decline of their relationship against the earlier tale of how they met and fell for each other.
How can you save a relationship that, when you are introduced to it, you know is doomed? That is the question posed to the viewer here. Blue Valentine is a love story but not the Disney version. Even though it is downbeat in tone, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Blue Valentine was excellent, with a pair of central performances that had me fixated, desperate to know if they could work through their issues and equally how they came together in the first place. For me it works so well as it showcases the two elements we have all experienced – the dreamlike beginnings of a relationship and the strains of the collapse – in a very human and identifiable way.
If you like this then maybe try:
21 Grams (similar pacing and character drama) or Eagle vs Shark (alternative and off beat view on relationships)
thefriedgold 
Not sure I would agree that it was abundantly apparent that they were doomed from the start – they had so much love for each other, if the film had shown us just the beginning parts of the relationship I’m sure we would have assumed that they would last forever (as they did). It was a fairy tale romance without the ‘happily ever after’ bit. I found it hard going, as it was just so sad and visceral and powerful in places, and it made me both despair and delight in equal measure. Fantastic performances from the leads; a very well made film and characters that I won’t forget in a while.
I wouldn’t say doomed from the start but you could see the cracks starting to appear. The film wasn’t happy and left you with a dull feeling at the end. However what i liked about the film was the concept. The time shifting showing when the relationship was good but counter acting it with the present day problems gave this film a different spin on a classic love story.
For me, when Dean went to woke Cindy it was clear it wasn’t a happy home and the differing parental techniques highlighted the distance between them. It just built from there and once it was contrasted against the fairy tale start…then the hardship…it made it all the obvious that they couldn’t carry on. The romance was halted too soon and it couldn’t have worked! I thought it was brilliant. Sad, but brilliant.
I just can’t enjoy a film that is so sad and in my eyes the two main characters have apparently made a huge leap from being loveable when they met to me utterly hating them both in apparently just a few years with scenes that just cover the same ground all through the film.
I’m done with miserable films that are “brilliant” and have “fantastic performances”. 21 grams another example.