From the first stirrings of romance to the fractious acrimony of its death throes, this intimate drama offers an in-depth portrait of a marriage hitting the skids. Thanks to strong performances from Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, there's a genuine emotional credibility to Derek Cianfrance's film, though it's by no means comfortable viewing. Although the story's time-skipping structure contrasts the young couple's hopeful beginnings with their subsequent grinding domestic discord rather than straightforwardly tracing the rise and fall of their relationship, it's so well-observed throughout that it escapes feeling too clever-clever. True, Gosling's mostly impressive work as the gentle drifter with few aspirations beyond being a good husband and father occasionally proves slightly actor-ish, but Williams's turn as the hard-working nurse increasingly frustrated by his apparent lack of ambition is heart-rending indeed. There are few pat solutions here, just an affecting recognition that when some people fall in love and things go awry, it doesn't necessarily mean they fall out of love.