Todd Field directed the picture, which is based on Andre Dubus's 1979 short tale "Killings," for which he is also acknowledged in the end credits. Starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, and others. The film is about Matt (Tom), a doctor in a small town, and his wife, Ruth (Sissy), a music teacher. Their son, Frank, a college-graduate and fisherman, falls in love with a local older woman who has two children and has separated from her abusive husband (Richard). Tom is doing his best as a parent to both encourage his son to continue his studies and understand his love for the woman (Marisa). Frank is shot dead one day by the woman's ex-husband, leaving Tom and Ruth devastated. Tom and Ruth lose trust in the legal system after Richard is granted bail, and the lawyer informs the parents that the accused would most likely face five to ten years in prison for unintentional manslaughter rather than murder. Tom, Sissy, and Marisa all have outstanding performances in the film. The film features a terrific dramatic tale that drifts into criminal narratives and stages where the affected are forced to figure out how to deal with such traumatic events.

This serious drama about a devastating tragedy that afflicts a Maine family is a brilliantly acted, intense, and somewhat soapy film about ordinary people in small town America. Fantastic.

Starts well, ends excellently but the middle hour of this story drags terribly. It is redeemed by an excellent final set. Not one I'll remember but a solid enough tale. Watched on DVD.

A fantastic debut for Fields, who is ably supported by his cast, in this drama dealing with grief and loss. One of 2001's best movies.

Whoa this was such a gem that I enjoyed for a second time. I don't remember hearing anything about this or theater previews but it is so compelling with excellent acting and storyline. 4.5 stars

a good cast, starts "in media res". My only "continuity" issue is why did he have no friends his own age?

I have no idea why they called this film "In The Bedroom," but I did like it, although it moves a little slow.

The best acting performances from Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek! With the best filmmaking debut ever from Todd Field and Robert Festinger!

Directed with unpredictability and intellectual gentleness, a wrenching powerhouse that deals with grief striking the inner depths of relationships onto the hurt surface, emotionally bringing out the finest performances at great attempts of touching relatability – if applies, particularly Wilkinson and Spacek's chemistry being their memorably definitive best. (B+)

In the bedroom is painfully realistic as it deals with the loss of a child to murder. Spacek as the angry/grieving mother is spot on. The scenes that depict the crime are chilling and Tomei plays the broken woman in the middle well.

In the Bedroom is a rare thing - a 'suburban sadness' drama that has actual drama in it rather than a couple shouting matches and a lot of uncomfortable silences. The pacing is slow but where other films in the genre attempt to simply equate that sluggishness with some sort of methodical power, once the plot takes shape in this Todd Field film every interaction feels like tiptoeing around emotional land mines, with characters sweating discomfort and emotional volatility through clenched teeth. While the performances of both Wilkinson and Spacek were excellent, the attention to detail paid to the supporting characters really deserves note; individual idiosyncracies are particularly well fleshed-out but play important roles in the story and character development, giving an authentic backdrop to the trauma of our main characters (recalling in particular the poker players, and their treatment of Wilkinson's Matt before and after the film's tragedy). Many films have pointed out the well-intentioned but unsure support that friends offer to those that are going through emotional upheavals, but few films really convey the awkwardness and impotence of these interactions quite as well as In the Bedroom. Well directed, well acted, and well shot; certainly not a directly uplifting film but one that explores emotional bonds put under stress quite well. One of many once critically-acclaimed films, now left at the side of the pop culture road by virtue of its own age and audience's short memories for anything that doesn't carry some immediate name recognition. (3.5/5)

A quietly gut wrenching portrayal of grief. Most evocative, most mysterious, most inconsolably devastating film. The effect of the film isn't over when you leave the theater. A true masterpiece. Field's direction manages to feel both highly controlled and effortlessly spontaneous at the same time. His lifting of the facade of a perfect neighborhood is carried out surgically.

Two star crossed lovers take the ultimate plunge after what happens in the bedroom Starring Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek and William Mapother Natalie is married and Frank is a young man Frank has his parents, a doctor and a teacher living in Maine while Natalie has her kids and husband It's one heck of a summer one that might end in tragedy if Natalie's husband ever found out about her affair The movie feels longer than it needs to; it stinks because the focus is taken away from Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl There's more emphasis on the parents dealing with their grief There's a lot of quiet somber moments This couple is unhinged by uncontrollable events Yet there's not enough melodrama to sustain its length

The story they told here was incredibly compelling and made the 2+ hour runtime completely melt away. I went into this without reading anything about it and came away feeling sure the story would resonate with me for a while afterwards. The entire cast did a really tremendous job in playing their roles, though I think the Oscar nominations were helped along by the extremely sympathetic characters they were portraying. Mapother in particular was impeccably cast; from the moment he strides into the family's backyard it was clear what his role would be and that he would be a remarkably effective villain. In hindsight I'm glad they spent so much time on the emotional turmoil of the parents but while watching it I was rather surprised they didn't find time for more actual plot to take place as the dramatic ending seemed a foregone conclusion by the halfway point of the movie. This was the first time I had seen Sissy star in a movie; I'm absolutely shocked she's not been given any notable Lifetime Achievement Awards even 20 years later!

Director Todd Field made two critically acclaimed feature films in the early 2000s (In the Bedroom, Little Children). Since that time, nothing. In a movie era filled with sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, there is a void that needs to be filled by filmmakers like Field. In the Bedroom is a slowly paced, deliberate film filled with inconsolable grief, simmering rage, the inability to forgive and, ultimately, retribution. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are both fantastic in lead roles. Based on the subject matter and pacing, it's understood that this may not be for everyone, but it's well worth it if you're willing to put in the time.

The fantastic performances make it a must watch.

It was too slow, too long and too uneventful for my taste but the characters were powerfully pictured and the ending was worth enduring the slow pace.

Excellent plot and writing

This film kept my interest throughout and was very well made and acted. I just wish the story went somewhere other than it did. It was a dull ending. Not that every movie must have a twist at the end, but it was just lacking something.

The chamber piece is a grand tradition dating back to the work of Lupu Pick and Carl Mayer in the 1920s. Decades later the genre would be updated and countless famed actors would have their go at bringing to life a, hopefully, taut but juicy script full of room to develop their character and a wonderful climactic showdown in which they let out all of their anger in one big flood of emotion. This film was particularly successful in using this format as top tier talent such as Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson were employed to take a traditional soap opera tale to another level altogether under the sensitive direction of Todd Field. This film stood out amidst the lackluster Best Picture field of as a masterpiece of subtlety and quiet emotion in which every element was beautifully understated to outline wider points about grief and the torture of relationships. In Camden, Maine the happily married Fowlers, choral conductor Ruth, Sissy Spacek, and doctor Matt, Tom Wilkinson, have concerns over their university student son Frank, Nick Stahl, and his relationship with older mother Natalie Strout, Marisa Tomei. Strout has an abusive ex-husband Richard, William Mapother, who happens to be a member of a wealthy and influential family in the area and he is angered by Frank's increasingly closeness to his ex-wife and children. One day he violently kills Frank when he discovers him at home with Natalie and her children. In the aftermath of this event cracks begin to appear in the marriage of the Fowlers as each blame the other for their son's death and the lack of an eyewitness to the event lowers the chance of Richard being justly punished. After a dramatic argument Matt makes a difficult decision that leads him to achieve some closure while bringing him closer to his wife again. The main virtue of the film is it's investment in characters as absolutely everybody from the Fowlers to Strout, who would be relegated to a sexy but tragic cougar stereotype in a lesser film, feels like a real human being. Even our villain is given humanity in his final moments and we begin to hesitate as our protagonist steps towards making a fatal and irrevocable decision. This movie understands the inner workings of a marriage, the push and pull, the long held resentments and the strange, inextricable bond that pulls people back together inevitably. The opening scenes of the film set up not a pleasant idyll but a small town in which tensions are already brewing. Ruth is angered by her son's relationship and potential deferment of his ambitions to chase a woman for whom she holds contempt, at least in part due to her husband's lust for the same woman. This is not an idea that would be explored with as much sensitivity in a film that did not care about these characters as much as this film does as it dares to give us almost a full hour of setup before the tragic event occurs. It is because of this that we know Frank and what he meant to his mother and father instead of him existing purely as a plot device intended to wring tears out of the audience and give Spacek an excuse to do her best Shirley MacLaine. Even in the aftermath of the event we see these characters going about their lives as they had before but with the distinct sense that something is hanging over them. This is something that will likely never go away as even with the drastic action taken by Matt they will always miss their son and in some part of their mind wonder what they could have done to save him. The movie never assigns blame for the death of Frank outside of Richard as we are allowed to sympathize with Strout, Ruth and Matt separately. We are devastated for both Ruth and Strout when one slaps the other across the face after a failed attempt at commiseration. Spacek gets one of the best roles of her career as the resentful but honest Ruth who will always be more fastidious and attentive than her comparatively laid back husband. She gets to display a full range of emotions as she goes through Ruth's grief with her repression and quiet pain being just as riveting as her eventual showdown with an equally impressive Wilkinson. He is able to carry his half of the film as he manages to leer at Strout while still making us like him and believe him as a caring father and husband. After all, he's just a man. There is not one note in his performance, even after he makes the decision, that struck me as a false and when up against an actress as subtly powerful as Spacek that is saying something. Tomei, who grates on my nerves in films like Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), is a wonder here as the broken, tortured woman looking for some fun in her life after many difficulties. We get the sense of her being resigned to a fate of seemingly never end grief and her she is careful to give the sense of being more than a victim even when faced with endless angry tirades from those around her. The cast are uniformly excellent and each should have won an Academy Award for their performances although Spacek not winning was particularly egregious. This is a beautiful, heartfelt film that everybody should make an effort to see at least once in their lifetime.