How late is too late to rekindle the flames of passion? That’s the question in the honest and surprisingly adult Hope Springs. Though married for 31 years, Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) have long ago drifted away from any sort of intimacy. Much to Arnold’s chagrin, Kay boldly signs the couple up for an intensive week long marriage counselling retreat in small town Maine. Unflinchingly, the film then focuses on the awkward, often humiliating counselling sessions (run by a subtle Steve Carell) that allow both partners to voice their pent-up resentments. Jones, stoic and stubborn, and Streep, wounded and fragile, expertly inhabit their characters. It’s easy to see how this couple fell in love, and why it will be so difficult to head back down that road. Ultimately love-affirming, Hope Springs is still a naked showcase of all the lonely terror in a dwindling marriage.
This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2012.