The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Take This Waltz
Drama · Comedy · Romance · 2011
Twenty-eight-year-old Margot is happily married to Lou, a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel, a handsome artist who lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable.
Movie details
Take This Waltz
“A funny, bittersweet tale of love…”
2011 Drama · Comedy · Romance 1h 56m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.4 / 10
Community rating
Twenty-eight-year-old Margot is happily married to Lou, a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel, a handsome artist who lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Take This Waltz?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Carnal Knowledge
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The Good Girl
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A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.
The Roses
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Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.
Love & Sex
Comedy · 2000
When her rather explicit copy is rejected, magazine journalist Kate is asked by her editor to come up with an article on loving relationships instead, and to do so by the end of the day. This gets Kate thinking back over her own various experiences, and to wondering if she is in much of a position to write on the subject.
Afterglow
Drama · 1997
Lucky Mann is a builder equally handy at repairs and seduction. The latest housewife to succumb to his charms is Marianne, unhappily married to corporate exec Jeffrey. When Jeffrey becomes enraptured by Lucky’s wife Phyllis, the four get caught in a love quadrangle that reignites their marriages.
Diary of a Mad Housewife
Comedy · 1970
Tina Balser is a bored New York housewife-mother married to Jonathan, a pompous, social-climbing lawyer who ridicules her in front of their children, criticizing everything she does or wears. She begins an affair with George Prager, a dashing, successful, and blatantly sadistic writer.
Heartburn
Comedy · 1986
She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.
XX/XY
Drama · 2002
Three friends begin a dangerous three-way relationship that spirals out of control, leading to dire consequences that haunt them ten years later.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Sarah Polley
Written by
Sarah Polley
Michelle Williams
Margot
Seth Rogen
Lou
Luke Kirby
Daniel
Sarah Silverman
Geraldine
Jennifer Podemski
Karen
Diane D'Aquila
Harriet
Vanessa Carter
Tony
Court is in session
Put Take This Waltz on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.