January 2, 2002 -- "In the Bedroom" is the best film of the year 2001. There have been a lot of films about families dealing with terrible grief, but no film examines that grief any better than this one.

Sissy Spacek ("The Straight Story") stars as Ruth Fowler, a woman living in Camden, Maine. She keeps her house immaculate, her students at school in line, and her emotions under control. Her husband, Matt (played by Tom Wilkinson of "The Patriot"), is a quiet doctor who is easy going and calm. Their twenty-something son, Frank (played by Nick Stahl of "The Thin Red Line"), seems well-adjusted enough, but is having an affair with Natalie Strout (played by Marisa Tomei of "Slums of Beverly Hills"), a married woman who has separated from her abusive husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother of "Mission Impossible II"). "It's just a summer thing," he tells his mother, but she worries that it is more than that.

A terrible tragedy happens to the family, knocking Ruth and Matt out of their comfortable orbits. Each of them tries to cope with the grief in their own way. Matt goes back to work, but begins drinking more. Ruth shuts down, wallowing in her anger and grief, chain-smoking, watching TV and drinking. Both of them keep their emotions bottled up. After a number of failed attempts to communicate, a breakthrough happens and Matt and Ruth finally talk. It is a scene of incredible emotional power as years of frustration and anger are vented. They say hurtful, but truthful, things to each other. Some issues finally get resolved. There is much more to this story (and I mean a lot more), but I don't want to spoil it.

The story is more believable and effective than most because it is so well-written by Robert Festinger and Todd Field (who also directs the film). It is based on a short story by the late Andre Dubus (who helped with the screenplay adaptation before his death), a New England author. Most of the events are character-driven, logical and conform to common sense. The audience is not required to suspend its disbelief, as it must in nearly every other film from 2001. The story is also set up carefully. All the little details of day to day existence are observed carefully in the first part of the film. This kind of patience and craft is almost unheard of. Another thing that grounds the film in reality is the setting. Everyone lives in very normal-looking houses with normal-looking furniture, not the high-priced designer furniture in the palatial homes one usually sees in the movies. The film's sense of place is also grounded in reality. I've never seen another film that portrays Maine and its people more convincingly. The deft cinematography of Maine's rugged scenery by Antonio Calvache also helps establish the sense of realism. The Maine accents are better than most Hollywood attempts. By the way, the phrase "in the bedroom" refers not to a real bedroom, but to a place inside of a lobster trap.

The film is a heartbreakingly beautiful piece of work by Field (better known as an actor than as a director before this film) and company. Spacek and Wilkinson are awesome. Tomei handles her very difficult role just perfectly. There is an electric encounter between Tomei's character and Spacek's character that is as shocking as anything I've seen in the movies lately, including all those surprise endings that have been flooding the movies in 2001. This story is not so surprising as it is inevitable. It is so well crafted that you cannot see any way for the characters to escape their tragedies. That makes it all the more heartbreaking. William Wise of "Blue Steel") and Celia Weston of "Hearts in Atlantis") play Willis and Katie Grinnel, old friends of Matt and Ruth. There is a well-worn ease in the way these friends interact in the film. At the same time, the Grinnel's share the pain of their old friends without making a show of it. Just marvelous acting all around. The original music by Thomas Newman is also effective. This film rates an A.

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