bruan:

Take This Waltz (2011) dir. Sarah Polley

“One of the things I find most interesting about people’s responses to the film is that technically she doesn’t cheat on her husband. She has this intense flirtation. What gets me is some people really empathize with her and get her and get her sexual restlessness. But when people judge her, they judge her harshly. They think she’s a totally self-involved selfish brat. But we all love [Mad Men’s] Don Draper. And I find that totally fascinating with what we expect along the gender line. We find it in our hearts to love Don Draper even though he’s constantly lying and cheating on his wife, but if a woman expresses sexual restlessness in the confines of a marriage we balk at that. I feel that a lot of what she does is unlikable and yet she’s an empathetic character because she’s flawed like all of us are. When people don’t like her they really hate her and when people like her they are incredibly defensive of her.” - Sarah Polley