Somebody Save Me (With Apologies to Cinderella and Andre Dubus)-Revised

I just watched "We Don't Live Here Anymore." It's one of three films (so far) based on stories by Andre Dubus. He's also the inspiration for "House of Sand and Fog" and "In the Bedroom." ***This is just wrong. Lee told me that House of Sand and Fog was written by Dubus III. Genetic brilliance, perhaps?*** In this case the stories are the eponymous title and "Adultery." If you're familiar with the three films, you'll know that no one could accuse Dubus of being a Pollyanna, yet his stories speak powerfully to our contemporary context inasmuch as they are about the domestication of our worst instincts and the quest for salvation in sex, alcohol, relationships, marriage, retribution, violence, and suburbia.

I won't go into a great deal of detail about any of the films; you need to see all three. Dubus captures the hopelessness that shapes our lives in a country where we have too much money and too much time to delve into the depths of our "self." In Dubus's world the self has been domesticated by conventions like marriage, parenting, and vocation. There are powerful, primal instincts that lay below the surface of our mundane, domestic lives waiting for the right combination of circumstances to call them forth in violence and destruction and the eventual salvation of the self, but always at the cost of complacency or contentment. We are not allowed to believe that we are better than we are, nor does he allow that salvation will come in any other form than submission to the idea of commonality and the commonness of the mundane. We are, after all, human, with all the passions and weaknesses that state implies, and we depend on those conventions to shape our awareness and our lives.

I was sympathetic to Mark Ruffalo's character in "We Don't Live Here Anymore." He allows himself the luxury of confusion as to how he ends up in an adulterous relationship with his best friend's wife (Naomi Watts). His messiah complex leads him to try to save Watts from her callous, philandering husband (Peter Krause). Adultery is never salvific though, and Ruffalo can only destroy himself and his wife (Laura Dern) in his attempt to save Watts. I'll let you watch the film to see the resolution.

I've been trying to save myself all my life: Jesus, alcohol, sex, adultery, drugs, cigarettes, cynicism...all of them have been part of a campaign to realize salvation in my own life. I've believed the story of my own fallenness and marveled at my ability to fuck up nearly everything while holding on to evangelical and fundamentalist notions of sin and salvation. They all try to perfect the human condition, but they do so by promising something that can't be realized--holiness--or something that is ridiculous--imputed righteousness. Dubus plays the role of prophet in revealing the impossibility of holiness and the ethical telos of imputed righteousness (libertinism or self-righteousness) while granting permission for all of us to be simply human. Salvation is recognizing our humanity, finding those who love us in spite of it, and loving others whatever the cost.

Comments

[lee]

Greg,

small note: "House of Sand and Fog" is written by Andre Dubus III, not Andre Dubus. Seriously. III is the son of Andre Dubus. I guess spectacular writing and characterization is in the genes, eh?

I always enjoy your musings on literature, by the way. I've picked up more than one book at the library after reading your posts.

Lee

[Kristen]

You're one of those people that Micah and I love for your humanity, not despite it. Just a little FYI. We would love to discuss the movie further, the next time we get to hang out.