Eight months after the death of their 4 year old son, we’re introduced to married couple Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) as they struggle with their differing and mutating grief. Kidman has the more complex role of the two as a character forced to endure everybody around her, trying to convince them in frustration that she doesn’t need their help or warrant their concern, feeling patronised, but whose underlying trauma is painfully visceral. Becca’s intelligence and self-awareness make her difficult to comfort particularly when offered religious advice. Film narratives demand a resolution of the inner-dilemmas of its protagnoists, but dealing with the death of a child the film can’t satisfyingly produce a dramatic finale. It could be to the filmmakers credit that it deliberately falls short as a film and instead exists as an honest, sensitive and compassionate representation of the complexity of grief.
The film is directed by John Cameron Mitchell who previously helmed the cult camp musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) and the XXX rated Shortbus (2006), but is without his usual hallmarks. Rabbit Hole is a film of restraint and focused strorytelling and is to be credited for dealing in sadness without the sacrifice of a great deal of humor, creatively and generously scattered everywhere.
Words: Daniel Martin
