Every week Psychologies recommends a film we love. This week’s film is Rabbit Hole.
Best for: making you believe in happy endings.
Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart star as Becca and Howie Corbett, a once-happy married couple, coming to terms with the death of their four-year-old son Danny. Based on a Broadway play by David Lindsay-Abaire, it begins – cleverly – eight months after Danny’s death. Never mawkish, the film acknowledges that grief isn’t always crying and cups of tea. Instead, it is rows, denial and gallows humour. Becca’s impatience with the other parents at grief counselling and Howie’s inappropriate giggling after a pre-therapy spliff will have you suppressing a laugh. And the brilliant Sandra Oh supplies comic relief as a self-proclaimed ‘professional wallower’ and group-therapy addict.
Newcomer Miles Teller stars as Jason, the shy teenager who was behind the wheel of the car that little Danny ran in front of. United in guilt and grief, Becca and Jason strike up an unlikely friendship. Stilted introductions, awkward silences and unspoken pain give way to heartbreaking conversations, as they open up to each other in a way they haven’t been able to with the people closest to them, and, through each other, find some form of – if not closure – at least acceptance.
After losing a child, the idea of a happy ending seems unthinkable. But, as the traumatised couple slowly begin to respond to each other again, and find a way to talk through their grief, this restrained, honest film gives us the sense that maybe, just maybe, everything is going to be OK.
Photograph: Jojo Whilden
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