As I have not seen the two productions 'His' and 'Her' prior to viewing 'Them' it is impossible to judge how well the two earlier films were edited to produce 'Them'. Having no preconceived ideas I was at least able to make objective opinion on what was available and what I saw left me a little bewildered but also impressed. Puzzlement maybe is what the director intended and I am not averse to being left in a little confusion when the end credits start rolling. If you can still be talking about a movie 24 hours after having seen it then maybe the director got something right. This slow and almost claustrophobic portrayal of love gone wrong did not strain one's attention span. We are left to believe that the loss of their baby boy was the reason for their estrangement although much is left to conjecture and deliberately so. Her attempted suicide is shown before any reason becomes apparent and it does enhance the interest. Just how many women jump off New York bridges, never mind being rescued with nothing than a bruised arm, is however an aspect that perhaps shouldn't be explored further. The fact that only minimal effort is made to counsel her afterwards was also remiss and gave the impression that it was nothing more serious than an accidental overdose. I felt that an opportunity was missed at this point to have stretched her character but again the director probably thought otherwise. The acting is superb though. Both Chastain and McAvoy are ideally cast as is William Hurt playing the concerned parent in the kind of niche role he seems to have made his own in recent years. Would I recommend it? Yes but only to people I thought might appreciate it. Art house material.
