BREAKING UP chronicles one couple's turn on the emotionally wrenching roller coaster that is the end of a relationship. Filmed in 1995, the film sat on the shelf until leads Salma Hayek (FOOLS RUSH IN) and Russell Crowe (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) became famous enough to warrant a limited
theatrical release.
After two years, the once-hot relationship between Steve (Russell Crowe) and Monica (Salma Hayek) has cooled. Stuck in a cycle of bitter fighting and conciliatory sex, they decide to break up. After a few days, Steve misses Monica and agonizes over whether to call her. He does, they meet, and they
have fabulous sex. But when they try to talk over dinner, they fight and break up again.
Six weeks later, Monica misses Steve and calls him. Again, they meet and have sex. When she catches him trying to sneak out in the middle of the night, Monica confronts Steve about their future and his inability to commit. Again, they fight and break up.
Time passes, and they begin to date other people. But when Steve sees Monica with another guy, he gets so jealous that he proposes to her. She accepts based on his assurance that everything will be different. But on their wedding day, Steve faints at the altar when he can't bring himself to say "I
do."
Steve sinks into a deep depression and calls Monica repeatedly, but she refuses to speak to him. A year later, they see each other on the street and agree that though they truly loved each other, it wasn't enough. Years later, they run into each other in a restaurant. There's still a spark of the
old passion between them, but both have moved beyond its pull and are now able to be friends.
Anyone who has ever been through the dissolution of a serious relationship will be able to identify with BREAKING UP, a film that pulls the covers off movie-fed fantasies that the heady bliss of l'amour will last forever. Adapting his own play for the screen, Michael Cristofer retains the
claustrophobic atmosphere of two people in a world where only the other exists. On stage, the pas de deux alternated vignettes from the relationship with the characters speaking directly to the audience, another device the film retains. The action is opened up, with varying results. A series of
scenes with Crowe and Hayek improvising, in character, street interviews on the subject of love is entertaining. But playing Steve's nervousness at the altar for laughs (in a tone inconsistent with the rest of the movie) turns the de facto climax into the film's falsest and weakest moment.
Both Crowe and Hayek do very well with their roles. The story favors Steve and his perspective on the relationship, allowing Crowe more opportunity to shade his character. But while her character is less developed, Hayek's fiery sexuality in several love scenes becomes an integral part of the
couple's dynamic chemistry. (Sexual situations, profanity, nudity.) leave a comment
