Customer Reviews

The Secret Lives of Dentists

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Alan Rudolph has directed some very interesting, though little-known films over the last twenty years... In his latest, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Rudolph mostly succeeds in creating an offbeat comedy-drama about a husband and wife team of dentists. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis play Dave and Dana Hurst, who lead a fairly typical, if hectic upper middle class existence. In addition to being a dentist, Dana is an opera singer. They have three young girls, who take up a large part of their nonworking time. Much of the film, in fact, focuses on the daily challenges of a couple raising children. While this gets tedious at times (there is a twenty or so minute segment where we get to see the whole family throwing up as they suffer from flu), it manages to convey something, obvious as it is, that other movies tend to overlook. Namely, that whatever else may be going on in their lives, children take up a great deal of parents' time and energy. The conventional fabric of Dave's life starts to unravel when two unrelated incidents occur one day. First, he sees his wife in what appears to be a romantic embrace with another man. Secondly, he is harassed in public by an obnoxious disgruntled patient (Denis Leary, who is his usual wise-cracking self). From this point on, the movie turns surreal, as Leary becomes a walking hallucination in Dave's life, dispensing unwanted advice and providing comic relief from the otherwise heavy mood. The transitions between comedy and melodrama are sometimes rather sudden, but both work well in their own way, so the imbalance doesn't hurt the film. As in many of Rudolph's films, Secret Lives of Dentists uses a sharp focus to illuminate the small events in the lives of a few people. Everything takes place over the course of a few days, and not all that much actually happens. We mostly watch Dave's struggle to maintain his sanity while dealing with his conflicted feelings, such as love and anger towards his wife, devotion and impatience with his children. The film is slow paced, so if your movie attention span is short, it may not be for you. Yet I found it to be an original, funny and often touching look at a family trying to keep itself together.

"The Secret Lives of Dentists" documents a seemingly typical marriage between two dentists, played by Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, who are in joint practice. Their marriage seems ideal, with their successful practice, two homes, and three beautiful children. However, the idyllic appearance of their relationship belies the festering problems brought on by years of neglect and passivity.

Director Alan Rudolph is known for highly stylized films that examine the complications of relationships, such as "Choose Me" and "Afterglow." What his works often lacks in realism, he makes up for by eliciting gorgeous performances from his cast. Scott brings great subtlety to his character - a submissive man who refuses to fight for his crumbling marriage. Davis is also excellent, managing to make her character sympathetic despite her actions.

Overall, "The Secret Lives of Dentists" is perhaps the best Rudolph film I've seen, and the script and acting is often quite perceptive. However, it ultimately falls flat in several ways. In particular, the film takes an ugly turn with the character played by Denis Leary - a devil's advocate type who attempts to goad Scott into action. The movie really loses traction with every scene in which Leary plays a key role. In addition, the tone of the film is strangely aloof, and I found myself struggling to connect with the characters or become involved emotionally. In sum, the film is an above average and quirky look at modern marriages with some very good acting.

Extras - Plenty of extras including an episode from the Sundance Channel's show "Anatomy of a Scene," which dissects the opera scene.

This is one of the more satisfying
films I've seen this year. Its of
the serious comedy genre. Dentists
will be interested but its not particularly
about dentists.
Its about the difficulty of maintaining
intimacy in modern marriage and what that
lack can lead to. Its a re
make of the Thurber/Danny Kaye Secret
Life of Walter Mitty.

Campbell Scott and wife Hope Davis
work as partner dentists in suburban New York.
The couple have been married ten years, they
have three daughters. Scott is more sympatico
and caring of the girls than
his wife, and they both know it.

A cynical trumpet player patient, Dennis Leary,
criticizes Scott's dental work and browbeats him
publicly into re-fixing his free, though Leary wrecked
the dental work by not following advice.

The Spirit of Leary hangs about the House
giving Scott advice on how to deal with his
problems. The children are a constant battle. The
absences of the wife spur suspicion and fearful
fantasy. .

Scott begins to fantasize that his wife is secretly
cuckolding him, and he imagines fantasies of what a
a new romantic life of his own would be like.

The Couple are chained to their Practice, but even
more chained to the troublesome and irksome children.
There is a five day bout with the flu that puts both
dentists to bed but still waiting on their vomiting
children hand and foot, Scott doing most of the work.

The film raises questions about
the tacit but never discussed secrets, shared but never
spoken of, between modern marrieds.

Scott, son of actor George C. Scott, is in
the best role of his life. This is
also certainly the best film Robert Altman
disciple Alan Rudolph has ever made. Dennis
Leary is pretty good as the low-life musician with
a pair of Elvis-on-tour aviators, a bad brown
leather jacket, bad hair and other sartorial woes.
He is a cross between the Bogey character in Play
it Again Sam and the Sheldon Leonard character,
Grogan, who used to show up in the foodstore
to criticize and torment poor Jack Benny.

The film is a little like American Beauty but more
realistic and less the joke you can't take seriously.
Its good. I had hoped for a better ending. In fact
I could have written one I like better but this one will do.
Despite the ending, and a slight lengthiness, I would
recommend it highly.

...

This movie was so good because of the great acting done by Scott and Davis, also the supporting players were extremely good. It had a very true form of content. The family interactions felt very real. I forgot it was just a movie and really could feel like I was part of the family. The two main characters were married and the story reflected the breakdown of the marriage, or what seemed to be the breakdown. The tight performances were right on, the emotions were seen in the body and face but not voiced, I really like that. I felt what the actors were feeling or at least my projections of what they were feeling and that contributed to the whole film experience. It is a movie that obviously is not for everybody. The movie can touch people who have had parents who could not communicate or had secrets and suppressed them. The children act out the emotions the parents cannot voice. This movie is not your happy meal of the day, it is quiet yet volatile. The volitity is underlying and the picture viewer senses it, so be prepared to get a bit stirred up. I truly enjoy those kind of films and learn from them.

upside: two excellent actors give outstanding performanaces. a glipse into the personal lives of two dentists. the irony is their "life" represents the lives of all people.

downside: not one you would watch over and over. but well worth the watch one time.

overall: this movie evoke true emotions, touches "close to home" giving married couples a sense of familiarity and recognition. highly recomended.

Dave (Campbell Scott) and Dana Hurst (Hope Davis) are married dentists who share a practice, two lovely homes, and three young daughters. Ten years of marriage has brought many successes but left them disinterested and unable to enjoy each other's company. When Dave sees Dana speaking to another man backstage at her amateur opera production, he interprets a simple gesture as an indication of infidelity. Exacerbated by Dana's unusually prolonged errands, Dave's frustration comes out in the form of daydreams in which he is goaded by an alter-ego (Denis Leary). Being cloistered together for 5 days while the flu makes its way through the family may or may not bring tensions out into the open.

"The Secret Lives of Dentists" has been adapted by Craig Lucas from Jane Smiley's novella "The Age of Grief", which borrows some of its ideas from James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Like Walter Mitty, Dave Hurst is frustrated and bored and daydreams a lot as a result. He dreams of the relationship he used to have with his wife, and he imagines scenarios for his marriage's current condition. "The Secret Lives of Dentists" is essentially a "relationship movie", but one in which people deal with their discontent by avoiding one another. Dave and Dana don't communicate what they feel or think. Their interactions are brief and usually dishonest. We see what is going through Dave's mind, so we come to understand him. I don't think we ever fully understand Dana, but neither does her husband. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis are two of cinema's best character actors, and they do a convincing job of these two ordinary people who stopped working at their relationship at some point and woke up later to find that their marriage has turned into something neither of them expected or wanted. There are some darkly comic moments in the film, and I appreciate director Alan Rudolph's ability to see the humor in the Hursts' strife. Recommended as the trials of an affluent suburban marriage with an interesting twist and talented cast.

The DVD: Bonus features include an audio commentary by director Alan Rudolph and actor Campbell Scott, "Anatomy of a Scene" featurette, a blooper reel, and some deleted scenes. The audio commentary is decent. The "Anatomy of a Scene" featurette is one of those that was produced by and aired on the Sundance Channel. It's 25 minutes long. The scene -or scenes- that is discussed is the family's evening at Dana's opera performance, including the scene in which Dave begins to suspect her infidelity, which is the catalyst for the rest of the movie. The writer, producer, director, actors, and others involved with the production of the opera sequence are interviewed. This is a good featurette for aspiring filmmakers. I recommend the "Anatomy of a Scene" and then the audio commentary if your interest has not be quenched or you want to explore a different scene. Subtitles are available in English only.

The Secret Lives of Dentists is one of the first non-standard films I've seen in a long time. What struck me were the risks taken by the director and writer in the sculpting of the film and the manner in which the actors portrayed their characters.

Every role was acted convincingly to the point where there ceased to be an actor and the characters themselves lived for the duration of the film. Highlights would be the job done by Campbell Scott and the girls who played his daughters.

Scott's ability to play the role of the dentist more committed to his family than his independance is so utterly convincing I found myself relating to the character as I would to a person sitting opposite in a restaraunt booth.

IF you're a fan of solidly written and acted movies with endign which require and provoke thought, then this is a movie which you will most likely enjoy. There are very few movies I feel a $9.00 ticket is not too much for -- this is one of them.

With a title like "The Secret Lives of Dentists," one almost expects a muck raking portrayal and a series of shocking revelations about the secret exploits of dental professionals. Instead, we find out that dentists are normal people leading normal lives with normal problems. The plot revolves around how the husband dentist suspects that the wife dentist may be having an affair.

To be fair, the idea of "secret lives" does come into play: the wife has a not-so-secret life in the form of her increasingly obvious affair and the husband has a secret fantasy life in which his suspicions and frustrations play out. The most interesting scenes of the film take place in the latter, where the husband has a running conversation with his darker alter ego in the guise of one of his rude patients. There are a couple of zany fantasy sequences--I liked the "dental identification" scene, but I found the family beat down "kick her out of the house" scene to be tasteless.

The biggest problem of the film is lack of character development. We see very little of the motivations of the wife and no direct scenes involving her affair--this character plays more of a role in the film through her conspicuous absences than through anything she says or does. The husband fairs little better: At the beginning of the film the husband is a put-upon loser and at the end of the film he is a put-upon loser who has let his wife know that he knows about the affair. Even the moment when the dental hygienist seems to be fleetingly interested in the husband turns out to be nothing more than pity for a cuckold. After all of his interior conversations with his patient/alter ego, the husband decides that it would be too inconvenient and too much hassle to rock the boat of his comfortable middle-class life by putting any substantial effort into his relationship with his wife. While I disagreed with most of the input of the patient/alter ego, I do share his disgust that the husband couldn't amount to more--it's hard to root for someone who chooses a living room full of nice furniture over love, happiness, self-respect and dignity.

I love Indie movies, "Why?" you may ask? Because they usually much better at depicting real humans then Hollywood films are. And okay, some indie films are just as bad as Hollywood films, that's a given, you *always* have to sift through the crap to find the good stuff. But as with anything, when you find the good stuff, the search was worth it.!

So, anyways, I will say that to me, this movie was fairly depressing. It moved fairly slow, but it fit the film, and it went by pretty fast. I felt the relationship between Dave and Dana was handled really well. And the performances by Campbell Scott and Hope Davis were wonderful. All the acting in the film was great, I especially like Denis Leary in this movie, and generally I dislike him(A LOT), but he's PERFECT for the role he plays here.!

I just like watching what Dave is going through, it just seems what I'd be thinking if my husband were cheating on me. Or some-what like thoughts I've had about people hating me. Its fun watching him play-out scenarios in his mind as well.

I mean generally the main problem with marriages and many relationships is lack of communication. That's especially true in this film, they've gotten so wrapped up in they're day-to-day lives they don't have very much real communication. When one of them tries to communicate the other isn't in the mood to listen. And of course their's the whole affair thing with his wife, so she is generally unreceptive of his attempts at affection and communication.

The only thing I dislike about the movie is just how unsympathetic it is. But it makes sense, because if you're cheating on somewhat you're not really thinking much about their feelings, or if you are, you block it out. Oh well, overall I'd say this is worth a view for people who want an honest look at marriage. It makes you realize just how much work a marriage takes. :)

God Bless ~Amy

"I am 38 years old, and it seems to be that I've arrived at the age of grief. My wife is seeing another man, and I don't kick her out of the house. She doesn't kick me out. I can't imagine kicking anyone out of the house. Do you kick them? Or do you... kick them?"

Campbell Scott has always been one of my favorite actors, and his performance as a somewhat repressed, subdued and not very socially adept dentist is excellent and compelling. It slowly dawns on his character, Dave Hurst, that his wife is seeing another man. The distance between his wife, Dana (who is also a partner in their shared dental practice), and him grows while both try to carry on with their lives as normal. Sadly I think the movie with its deliberate and slow pace reflects accurately the non-communicative state of many marriages. People become
so busy and wrapped up in the daily grind (in the case of the Hursts, they have three small children, none of whom seem to like their mother very much). Dave struggles not only with expressing himself but with the question of why his wife
looks at him, as he puts it, "with regret" rather than with desire. Dave's frustrations, questions and suspicions finally boil over when he treats a rather belligerent, cantankerous patient (Denis Leary), and Dave imagines the patient is following him around, provoking him and making him think about his relationship to Dana.

Dave is not interested in confrontation with Dana because he is not interested in taking action. He fears the adverse consequences if he were to confront her. What if Dana wanted to leave him for someone else? What if their marriage split up? He was more willing to accept doing nothing to maintain a strained status quo. As the relationship becomes more strained, and as Dave personifies many of the qualities he imagines his belligerent patient to have, there are physical repercussions in the family... the entire family gets violently ill, with the
oldest daughter manifesting ongoing symptoms of nausea brought on by stress and anxiety (which is she clearly sensing in the household).

Overall I felt this movie was well done. The performances were excellent (cannot really complain about Hope Davis and Campbell Scott), the mundane quality of daily life and the sometimes silent suffering and lack of understanding that accompanies the tedium is captured here. As Dana comes alive in the beginning in
a community theater musical, and the let down that comes when the production ends, she embodies a person emotionally distraught at having lost some kind of passion. Most telling, she cries about the end of this period of artistic expression, freedom, and Dave does not notice. Dave and Dana share a
conversation at one point in the movie about whether they are really friends with each other. Dana always felt their marriage would grow wider and larger, but she only saw that it became smaller. They admitted that they scared each other, but they never really dealt with their personal issues. The subtle
portrayal of marriage and its failures as well as the failures of communication are well developed here, and for this reason, the film is a good choice.