Take This Waltz

Margot, a 28 year old living in an ordinary Toronto neighborhood, is married to Lou, a warm but unexciting cookbook author. When a handsome neighbor across the street, Daniel, enters her everyday world the pull between comfort and possibility becomes hard to ignore. The film follows their slow simmer of attraction as it tests loyalty, friendship, and the small choices that shape a life. It treats desire with warmth and wit, avoiding melodrama while letting character and mood carry the moment. The tone stays intimate and observational, inviting questions without presenting easy answers about love and fidelity. The film secures a tender watchfulness through its small details and naturalistic performances, letting viewers puzzle over what true happiness might cost.

Take This Waltz is directed by Sarah Polley from an original screenplay. Released in 2011, the film pairs Michelle Williams as Margot with Seth Rogen and Luke Kirby, supported by Sarah Silverman and Jennifer Podemski in a Canadian indie drama.

Reception and themes: Critics greeted the film with a quiet, observant style that foregrounds grown up questions about commitment, desire, and choice. Williams gives a nuanced performance while Polley blends drama and light humor to explore the tension between the life you have and the one you might want today.

The film did not collect major prizes but drew admiration for Williams and Polley's precise handling of feelings and for the way a quiet Toronto story could feel universally relatable. It found a place in conversations about contemporary romance and indie cinema despite its modest awards footprint.

Take This Waltz sits with Polley's intimate studies of everyday life and adds to conversations about desire within marriage without moralizing. Its grounded performances and real world setting have made it a reference point for discussions of adult romance in indie cinema, in film schools and indie festivals globally today.