Millers in Marriage

Writer-director-actor Edward Burns’ follow-up to TIFF ’19’s Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies surveys the thorny emotional lives of three siblings adrift in middle age. An ensemble drama with a stunning cast and a bold approach to storytelling, Millers in Marriage takes a sobering look at the vagaries of long-term love while championing the possibilities for personal change.

Eve (Gretchen Mol) was a rocker in her early twenties but gave it up to be a full-time mom, while her husband, Scott (Patrick Wilson), poured his energy into his own music… while frequently pouring himself too many drinks. Now an empty-nester, Eve wonders if it’s possible to return to her art. She’s certainly encouraged by a hunky music critic (Benjamin Bratt) whose interest seems more than professional.

Eve’s sister, Maggie (Julianna Margulies), is losing patience with her husband, Nick (Campbell Scott). Both are novelists, but while Maggie feels productive, Nick seems resigned to perpetual writer’s block. Meanwhile, Eve and Maggie’s brother, Andy (Burns), is starting a new relationship with Renee (Oscar nominee Minnie Driver), though he might not be finished with Tina (Morena Baccarin), who left him after 15 years only to come back after hearing of his new romance.

A consummate director of actors, Burns focuses on character development and tracking emotional memory. Several times in Millers in Marriage, someone mentions a past event and, mid-scene, we are transported directly to that moment in time. It’s just one of many ways this smart, sensitive film draws us close to its characters and the universal feelings that come to shape their paths.

JANE SCHOETTLE

Content advisory: sexual innuendo