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Rabbit Hole

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At first glance, Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) appear to be the perfect suburban couple, but something doesn't seem quite right. That "something", it turns out, is that their four-year-old son Danny was killed in an accident eight months earlier.

The details of Danny's death emerge slowly over the course of the film. The couple is still trying to cope, each in their own way. Howie takes the train to the city to work each morning and has a regular squash game with a friend. Becca was apparently a stay-at-home mom before Danny's death and now she's a stay-at-home non-mom, gardening and exercising and trying to do things to fill her days. The couple attends weekly group therapy sessions with other couples who've lost children, but Becca has nothing but disdain for the other parents, including Gaby (Sandra Oh) and Kevin, who she views as career mourners since their child died so long ago.

The couple no longer socializes with their friends or neighbors and they've stopped having sex, largely because Becca doesn't want to. They still spend time with Becca's family: her irresponsible younger sister Izzy, whose recent pregnancy is viewed by Becca with resentment, and her mother Nat (Dianne Wiest), whose attempts to commiserate or offer advice are usually met with hostility.

Howie, despite having one of the least sexy male names ever, is still extremely hot and is pretty much the perfect husband. Becca's a little on the bitchy side, and you get the impression she probably was like this even before Danny died. The couple mostly keeps it together but they take turns losing it as the film progresses. Not in that hurtful, screaming, out-of-control way that makes me want to run out of the theatre and hide, but in occasional bursts of grief masquerading as anger that seemed quite genuine.

I hate manipulative films and "Rabbit Hole" didn't strike me that way at all. I rarely cry at movies, and almost never unless it's a movie about a dog, but I did shed a couple of empathetic tears during one scene, which not surprisingly, did involve a dog. Overall though, this isn't really the tearjerker you might think it would be; several scenes are actually quite funny. Sure, at the core of the film is a dead little boy, but eight months after the fact, we're spared the initial mourning period. The issue now, as both parents struggle to put Danny's death at least somewhat behind them, is whether or not they'll still be together if they ever succeed.

Eckhart is outstanding in his portrayal of a husband so busy trying to comfort his wife that he's barely had time to grieve himself. Wiest is also very good as a woman who's dealt with her own share of pain in her lifetime.

I've intentionally avoided mentioning very much about the plot, as it's best to just learn things as it slowly unfolds. Suffice it to say, there's plenty going on to hold your interest.

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