Marie and Bruce (2004)

Marie and Bruce (2004). 1h 30m | R

“As a young man, I first saw u0026quot;Whou0026#39;s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?u0026quot; and was aghast at such vituperative enmity shared by a married couple. As years passed, I understood that this shocking portrayal by Taylor and Burton (George u0026amp; Martha) of a dysfunctional couple was just one way some couples manifest their undeniable love for each other. There is much drama and intentional pain to be inflicted upon each other to assuage their sado-masochistic tendencies. In the end, after bringing others down to their level of marital martial arts, they survive because they truly love each other. To outsiders, they express in in such an unpalatable way. On the other hand, u0026quot;Marie u0026amp; Bruceu0026quot;, while similar to George u0026amp; Martha, with Marieu0026#39;s hateful and vituperative harangues (especially in public) against Bruce, who responds to her with indelicate personal thoughts about other womenu0026#39;s tighter vaginas,etc., demonstrates a marital bond more consistent with the Generation Xu0026#39;ers propensity to see everything from ones own selfish and hedonistic point of view that leaves little room for even a flicker of true love within their marital foundation. Perhaps u0026quot;Mu0026amp;Bu0026quot; reflects another casualty of our society as our moral-ethical boundaries have degenerated since post WWII changes in our society. This marriage is definitely worse that George and Marthau0026#39;s as there is no love residing anywhere behind their dysfunctional behavior. Even worse, Bruce takes the milquetoast approach as he receives his wifeu0026#39;s spewings and calls her u0026quot;darlingu0026quot; a million times in a demonstration of appeasement while he seeks the love he is missing from his wife through sexual fantasies with strange women and almost latent homosexual fulfillment with his lunch buddy, Frank. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMarie and Bruce may represent the decline of dysfunctional marriages to an even lower point today than the Baby Boomeru0026#39;s era. There is no redeeming basis for this marriage to have ever occurred. The lack of intellectual capacity in Mu0026amp;B (as evidenced by the banal conversations at Franku0026#39;s party) compared to George and Martha and friends is pertinent to todayu0026#39;s minds as they proceed through trials and tribulations of marriage. The utter lack of any fundamental basis of love throughout Mu0026amp;Bu0026#39;s marriage in todayu0026#39;s arena may indeed reflect the lack of intellectual development, hedonism, amorality, and many other missing elements of our former culture that seems more prevalent in todayu0026#39;s society. Marriage, even if practiced dysfunctionally, seems to be far more absurd and disgusting when there is no development of any basic love concept all while selfish,non-intellectual, mundane, banal, and all other dark forces have become so influential in shaping personality. Iu0026#39;ll take George and Martha any day because I know they, at the very core, loved each other very deeply. Chazz”