FAITH talks to Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan
can a movie about divorce be pro-marriage?

FAITH’s Alton Pelowski was part of an exclusive group of journalists to personally interview the cast of the ‘Laws of Attraction’ They talked about the movie’s themes of marriage and divorce.

Peter Howitt, director of Laws of Attraction, notes that when people get divorced, they often “discover a passion for a fight that they didn’t know they had in them.” He wonders, “Where was that passion and fight when they needed it, to save their marriage?” This sentiment is echoed in the movie by divorce attorney Daniel Rafferty, played by Pierce Brosnan.

Neither Daniel’s carefree personality nor his philosophy about marriage are shared by Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore), another successful New York divorce lawyer. Single and professional, Audrey is pessimistic about marriage and even speaks sentimentally about divorce. “Marriage is dead in the water,” she claims. Daniel, on the other hand, says, “I don’t believe in divorce.”

Meanwhile, the two lawyers find themselves head to head in a nasty divorce between a rock star (Michael Sheen) and his fashion designer wife (Parker Posey), who are “over the top” in every way. Their case centers on an Irish castle, which leads the characters away from the city to the romantic Irish countryside. During a town festival, Audrey and Daniel hastily get married, and are suddenly faced with the reality of their commitment.

“Marriage seems to be a dying trade, which is sad,” says Brosnan. “People turn to divorce now very easily, very readily. And that’s a frightening way to look at the future of human kind. We need to be committed to each other on a man to woman basis so that we can create families of love and stronger communities.” As the Second Vatican Council reminded us, “The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.” (Gaudium et Spes 47)

Brosnan speaks of his own experience as a husband and father, saying, “It’s such a powerful commitment in the eyes of God … that elevates you to another level of love and sharing and respect for each other.” Brosnan’s first wife, actress Cassandra Harris, died of ovarian cancer in 1991, one day after their eleventh wedding anniversary. He has two children with his wife Keely Shaye Smith, whom he married in 2001. “I’ve been lucky in my life to have love in marriage twice,” he reflects. “In both occasions, the ceremony was deeply profound and indelible in my mind.”

Director Peter Howitt, who will be 47 in May, also got married in 2001 – just one day after Brosnan’s wedding. “I never thought I’d get married,” he says. “I know that I’ll never get divorced, because I’ve waited (and) because it’s important enough to me to be married now that I will always do the fighting for the marriage.”

In other words, Brosnan and Howitt agree that marriage demands sacrifice and hard work, and should not surrender to changing moods and difficult situations. “It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to ‘receive’ the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ.” (CCC 1615, cf. Matt 19:11) Marriage is a school in which one learns how to love.

The story in Laws of Attraction is largely focused on Audrey’s journey of learning how to trust and be vulnerable, letting go of her cynicism and insecurity. “Experience has taught her as being a divorce lawyer that most relationships – certainly everything she sees – doesn’t work out,” says Moore. “She also has a mother who is a fairly promiscuous dater, so she doesn’t want to make the mistakes her mother has made. … And I do think that as a child of a single parent, it is hard to be confident.”

Audrey’s insecurity points to another truth. The indissolubility of marriage, far from causing enslavement, frees a person to love. Discussing what he called “the superstition of divorce,” G.K. Chesterton wrote, “I could never conceive or tolerate any Utopia which did not leave to me the liberty for which I chiefly care, the liberty to bind myself.” A June 2003 Gallup Poll revealed that 77% of American teenagers, 13-17, believe that it is too easy to get a divorce in our country. In our age of prenuptial agreements and divorce on demand, it is no wonder why someone would be cynical about marriage.

According to actress Frances Fisher, who plays Audrey’s mother, the movie also has a message specifically directed at young women. Unlike previous generations, women “have to be more like ‘guys’ in (their) attack in the workplace,” she says. “And sometimes it’s hard to take that armor and come home and be the vulnerable, receptive female that’s more in a woman’s nature to begin with.” For this reason, Fisher tells young women, “Don’t get caught when you’re in your 40s, forgetting to have children and forgetting to allow yourself to fall in love.”

While it esteems the value of committed married love, Laws of Attraction unfortunately never depicts marriage as more than a legally binding contract. As Catholics, we believe in the sacramental nature of marriage. Marriage has God Himself as its author, is a sign of the covenantal union of Christ and the Church and is a source of sanctifying grace. (cf. Eph 5:31-32) This is good news! The life-giving reality of the Church’s vision of marriage is not merely a human institution, but allows us to share in the life of God.

Furthermore, the movie would be dramatically improved if certain problematic elements were removed. For example, Audrey and Daniel are intoxicated during their exchange of wedding vows. Both this and the movie’s accepting attitude toward non-marital sex seem to undermine the characters’ apparent belief that love demands a free and total act of the will. Pope John Paul II puts it this way: “Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter ... it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving.” (Familiaris Consortio 13)

Despite these shortcomings, Laws of Attraction raises important issues and ultimately has a positive message. Marriage is worth fighting for.

– Alton Pelowski is assistant editor/webmaster for FAITH Magazine. Photos from New Line Productions, Inc.

Laws of Attraction is rated PG-13 for sexual content and language. Parents strongly cautioned.