Take This Waltz

Name: Take This Waltz
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: June 29, 2012
Duration: 116 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Aaron Abrams, Michelle Williams, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen

2012

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 65 Ratings

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6.4

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6.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 65 Ratings

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Take This Waltz

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Movie Details & Credits

Magnet Releasing | Release Date: June 29, 2012 | PG

Starring: Aaron Abrams, Michelle Williams, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen

Summary: When Margot, 28, meets Daniel, their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction; she is happily married to Lou, a cookbook writer. When she learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming TorontoWhen Margot, 28, meets Daniel, their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction; she is happily married to Lou, a cookbook writer. When she learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint. Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful like a bowl of fruit, Take This Waltz leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long-term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves. (Magnet Releasing)… Expand

Director: Sarah Polley

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 116 min

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Critic Reviews

A.O. Scott

Jun 28, 2012

Take This Waltz, Sarah Polley's honest, sure-footed, emotionally generous second feature. Ms. Williams, one of the bravest and smartest actresses working in movies today, portrays a young woman who is indecisive and confused, but never passive. Read full review

Betsy Sharkey

Jul 5, 2012

Somehow it is the waiting - for the fall that you expect is coming, for the marriage you figure will fall apart - that makes Take This Waltz one to make room for on your dance card. Read full review

Empire David Hughes

Aug 12, 2012

Sarah Polley's second film is a masterfully painted portrait of an ordinary marriage under threat, dominated by a central performance of exquisite subtlety and observation. Read full review

Sara Stewart

Jun 29, 2012

Canadian actor Kirby's bedroom-eyes shtick is infused with just the right amount of creepiness, as Polley's film plays with the blurry line between soulful romantic obsession and just plain stalking. Read full review

Tasha Robinson

Jun 27, 2012

Take This Waltz is simultaneously a coming-of-age film, a love story, a breakup story, and an indie quirkfest, and it tries to do so many things at once that it can't hit many of its marks cleanly. But at least it's never boring, and rarely predictable. Read full review

Ed Gonzalez

Jun 23, 2012

Take This Waltz is full of chance encounters, some less likely than a lobby with nine hundred windows or a bed where the moon has been sweating. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jun 23, 2012

In theory, these are twentysomethings we're talking about. But they walk and talk like fortysomethings or fiftysomethings, such is their dullness and self-absorption. Read full review

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User Reviews

Transmission101

Aug 19, 2012

This is the first movie in years I walked out on, even asked and got my money back. The cinema manager said he understood as everyone was saying how bad it was. Badly written drivel, come on the woman's wants to write, the man is an artist who pulls a rickshaw! The in and out Of focus, theThis is the first movie in years I walked out on, even asked and got my money back. The cinema manager said he understood as everyone was saying how bad it was. Badly written drivel, come on the woman's wants to write, the man is an artist who pulls a rickshaw! The in and out Of focus, the angst..do not waste your money nor your time… Expand

1 of 5 users found this helpful14

foxgrove

Dec 9, 2012

Likable,quirk-ily original and at times laugh out loud funny. This is a very strange film that gets better as it goes on. I found myself really warming to Margot, outstandingly played by Michelle Williams, as we are drawn into her life with Lou and her subsequent affair with Daniel. TheLikable,quirk-ily original and at times laugh out loud funny. This is a very strange film that gets better as it goes on. I found myself really warming to Margot, outstandingly played by Michelle Williams, as we are drawn into her life with Lou and her subsequent affair with Daniel. The outcome is honest and tinged with sadness. The film has stayed with me for months now and Sarah Polley is to be commended for her delicate handling of such a beautiful story albeit in a minor key. If for no other reason see the film for the stunning performance of Michelle Williams.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

katezoe

Sep 9, 2023

Second feature from Sarah Polley (director & writer). Great performance from Michelle Williams and Sarah Silverman. Interesting spotlight on romance, marriage, and love.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheDRauch

Nov 7, 2012

While nowhere near exhibiting the same level of maturity and insight displayed in her directorial debut, Sarah Polley's 'Take This Waltz' solidifies her position as a great up-and-coming director and benefits from subtle character observations and affecting performances by Michelle Williams,While nowhere near exhibiting the same level of maturity and insight displayed in her directorial debut, Sarah Polley's 'Take This Waltz' solidifies her position as a great up-and-coming director and benefits from subtle character observations and affecting performances by Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman (the latter two departing from their comedic origins to grace us with observed dramatic turns). Though in hindsight her character comes off as a bit irritating and moody, only Williams could bring her out with such a likeable mopiness. Without her bravura performance, the film would've collapsed upon itself. As a character study, solid observations are made, but the overall statements made feel slight and muted. At times the dialogue shifts from deeply thought-provoking to amateurish and the eventual climax loses some steam. Still, the heated, sensual tone is quite potent and the acting is grade A.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

ClariseSamuels

Mar 11, 2013

his movie had an interesting theme that was explored in a cinematically artistic way, but unfortunately, the film hesitated, stumbled, fell down a winding path, and landed in an awkward place. The eternal question of which situation is preferable--a loving marriage with the comfort ofhis movie had an interesting theme that was explored in a cinematically artistic way, but unfortunately, the film hesitated, stumbled, fell down a winding path, and landed in an awkward place. The eternal question of which situation is preferable--a loving marriage with the comfort of history, family and endearing quirks, eccentricities, and traditions, or a passionate love affair that sends one into outer space and around the moon and back before the inevitable crash landing on planet Earth? This film explores that dilemma, but the resolution is vague and ambiguous. Margot, played by Michelle Williams, meets a handsome stranger in Nova Scotia, Daniel, played by Luke Kirby, who happens to be a tourist at Fort Louisbourg in Cape Breton, where Margot has been assigned to rewrite their marketing brochure. Margot and Daniel meet briefly at the fort in an encounter which involves a re-enactment put on for the tourists. Daniel then shows up sitting right next to her on the plane back to Toronto, and then shares a cab with her at the airport only to find that they live across the street from each other. This is difficult to believe, but in this film, fiction is stranger than truth. They have already fallen in love and neither one can admit it, because Margot's 5-year marriage to Lou, played by Seth Rogen, who has to do serious acting for once in a film that is actually not of the gross and vulgar variety, is precious to her. (If they are supposed to unhappily married, the script fails to convey that at every level.) Margot, however, is already madly in love with neighbor Daniel, despite the fact that he is a frustrated, unknown artist who ekes out a living as a rickshaw driver, which is a Toronto tourist-industry phenomenon. Her husband Lou is a successful cookbook author. Even though it is sociologically well documented that women value a man's stature in the world more than they value looks, Margot not only falls in love with this drifter, she leaves a good husband for him, when it is obvious that she had only two choices: 1) resist him; 2) have a brief affair and get him out of her system. Before Margot leaves her husband, there is a period where the film intelligently explores the never-never land of being both happily married and madly in love with someone else, a situation that is mostly fantasy as long as nothing happens. Just when you think Margot is going to become strong in her resolve and not make a serious mistake, which would have involved having a scenario where Daniel's magical power over her gets destroyed, she caves in and leaves her husband. Thus begins the bizarre last act of the film, where Daniel moves into a fabulous Toronto loft that he can somehow afford as a rickshaw driver in a city where real estate is prohibitively expensive. Margot moves in with him, and at last they can make love, which turns out to be not just wild passion, but kinky sex involving third parties. This is completely out of synch with the essential nature of their romance, but no explanation for their behavior is offered. And finally, just like in a marriage to a nice guy, the two eventually settle into a routine where they spend a lot of time watching television. In the end, does Margot realize she made a mistake? Perhaps, but director Sarah Polley offers no firm resolution, and we never know if Margot can return to her husband or resign herself to life with a rickshaw-driving partner. Or if, when all the dust settles, she ends up with nothing and no one, but without regret because it was worth the ride, or the waltz, as in Take This Waltz, and who better than Leonard Cohen can emblemize a life philosophy based solely on carpe diem.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MarthaP

Aug 2, 2012

Despite creative cinematography, a promising and appealing cast, the writing in "Take This Waltz" was disappointing and the story lacked drama, pace, even basic logic.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Deathmonger

Dec 26, 2012

This film is utter drivel. A waste of an hour plus of your life that you will be begging back for. The plot is so weak it is practically nonexistent. Woman unhappy and bored with marriage leaves to go crazy for a bit, then settle back into boring and unhappy. What a waste of freakingThis film is utter drivel. A waste of an hour plus of your life that you will be begging back for. The plot is so weak it is practically nonexistent. Woman unhappy and bored with marriage leaves to go crazy for a bit, then settle back into boring and unhappy. What a waste of freaking time. There is no climax, no resolution, not even a headline, and certainly not a story worth watching. The main character finally is shown smiling and happy on a fair ride that is somehow inside a disco dance building in the final sequence. So the message is save your self-induced pathetic life by visiting the fair or a good amusement park in the first place rather than shattering someone else's life? Don't even watch this on netflix or amazon instant. Save yourself the time and effort.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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