Synopsis
In 1969, Allan King created one of the most intimate portraits of domestic life ever brought to the screen with A Married Couple. In it, he filmed his friends, Billy and Antoinette Edwards, who were experiencing serious marital tensions. Opening the door of their home to the cameras, the Edwards allow the filmmaker to see their lives over a ten-week period in Toronto, highlighting the difficulties and intimacy of marriage in a way that is both harsh and tender.
A word from Tënk
King's intimate insights into the lives of his characters paradoxically make words that have already been heard resonate, releasing the intensity of situations that have already been experienced. Now more than fifty years old, this film remains strikingly topical. The filmmakers document how a previously latent tension between individuals and their prescribed social roles explodes as the pressures of conformity threaten to stifle individualism. A Married Couple highlights how the personal and political are inextricably linked. The protagonists, moreover, question the responsibility of the problems they go through until finally denying the one associated with the rules imposed by society. The amorous relationship that is legalized by marriage appears as a place of power within which the hierarchical and subjugating aspects of all social relations are made more visible. Interactions emerge from two people imposing their own mental frameworks on each other. If the film is so striking, it's because it confronts us with the impasses and contradictions that the protagonists face. Questioning the norms that enslave our relationships is an important first step towards liberation.
Yulia Kaiava
Tënk's editorial assistant
