Verdict
Summary
Based, in part, on John Irving’s A Widow For One Year, The Door in the Floor is a mostly satisfying coming of age drama with vivid performances, namely from Basinger as the dissociating mother / wife who takes on a role as not just a cliché older woman / MILF type we typically see in movies, but one with limitless gravitas and grace.
Plot:
A writer takes an assistant over the summer in Long Island, leading to complications.
Review:
Celebrated children’s author Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) hires a young assistant from a nearby university for the summer while he works on his next book. The would-be assistant is a virginal and very impressionable young university student named Eddie (Jon Foster) who lays eyes on Ted’s beautiful and achingly distant wife Marion (Kim Basinger) and falls hard for her. Ted and Marion have an unusual living arrangement, as they’re currently going through a separation, and Eddie’s sleeping arrangement and duties as Ted’s assistant are confusing, as he’s never quite given any direction, and knowing this, Marion drifts towards him as if he’s the closest buoy to her in an endless ocean. Still reeling in profound sorrow after the deaths of both of her teenaged sons, Marion’s descent into despair has manifested much more plainly than Ted’s, who has taken to having meaningless affairs, the latest of which is with a wealthy middle-aged woman (played by Mimi Rogers) who believes that he has taken interest in her for her beauty, but the fact is that Ted simply wants distraction, not some kind of depth or meaning in sex. When Eddie finds himself in a sexual relationship with Marion, he’s drawn into her sorrow; sex for her is just to feel something, but for him it’s everything, and he comes of age during that summer, the most meaningful one of his life.
Based, in part, on John Irving’s A Widow For One Year, The Door in the Floor is a mostly satisfying coming of age drama with vivid performances, namely from Basinger as the dissociating mother / wife who takes on a role as not just a cliché older woman / MILF type we typically see in movies, but one with limitless gravitas and grace. Her role is the most complicated, while Bridges is sort of fun in a role that he seems to have relished playing. Foster is much more muted as the young interloper and doesn’t do too much with what he was given, but the role is underwritten, so it’s not his fault. Adapter / director Tod Williams did a solid job with this complicated material.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray for The Door in the Floor comes in a strong high definition transfer, with bonus features that include an audio commentary by the director, a making-of feature, a feature with John Irving, a featurette, the trailer, and a slipcover.
