Take This Waltz is a 2011 romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Sarah Polley. The film centres on Margot, a 28-year-old freelance writer who lives in a charming house on a leafy street in Toronto s Little Portugal neighbourhood, as she struggles with and examines her feelings for Lou, her husband of five years, while exploring a new relationship with Daniel, an artist and rickshaw driver who lives across the street.

The film stars Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, and Sarah Silverman.

Plot

Margot, a freelance writer, meets Daniel, an artist and rickshaw operator, while on a business trip, and although they immediately share some chemistry, she reveals to him that she is married. However, it turns out that Daniel lives across the street from Margot and her husband Lou in Toronto. Although Lou and Margot appear happy together, it becomes clear that Margot is not completely satisfied with her marriage, a feeling possibly aggravated by encountering Daniel. As the film progresses Margot and Daniel interact more and more until she ultimately leaves her husband to be with him. Lou is saddened, yet understanding. The audience is then shown a montage of Margot s new life with Daniel, including several brief sex scenes; however, these are soon replaced with scenes of mundane activities. It becomes clear that the excitement is also leaving Margot s relationship with Daniel. Geraldine, Lou s sister and a recovering alcoholic, confronts Margot (while drunk) and tells her that she should have just accepted that life has gaps and that changing relationships was not the answer.

Cast

• Michelle Williams as Margot
• Seth Rogen as Lou Rubin
• Luke Kirby as Daniel
• Sarah Silverman as Geraldine
• Jennifer Podemski as Karen
• Graham Abbey as James
• Aaron Abrams as Aaron

Production

Pre-production, filming and post-production took place in 2010/2011 at locations in and around Toronto, Ontario including at Pinewood Toronto Studios, Pearson International Airport, the Royal Cinema and in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.

A communal shower scene featuring actresses Michelle Williams, Jennifer Podemski and Sarah Silverman gained press attention, as it was Silverman s first time appearing fully nude on screen. During press interviews, Silverman stated that she was comfortable performing in the scene, because it was a non-sexual portrayal of a common, everyday occurrence of women being nude together.

Release

Take This Waltz had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2011. The film then played at the 31st annual Atlantic Film Festival and the 59th annual San Sebastián International Film Festival. At the end of September, Take This Waltz was shown at the 25th Edmonton International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festivals. The film closed the Calgary International Film Festival and the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival. In April 2012, Take This Waltz was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. A month later it played at the Seattle International Film Festival.

On October 17, 2011, it was announced that Magnolia Pictures had acquired the US rights to Take This Waltz. They released the film through their Ultra VOD program on May 25, 2012, before releasing it to theatres on June 29, 2012. The film also opened to Canadian theatres on June 29. Take This Waltz was released on June 14, 2012, in Australia. In the United Kingdom, it was released by StudioCanal on August 17, 2012.

Home media

Take This Waltz was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 23, 2012. It was released on Netflix in June 2017.

Reception

Box office

Take This Waltz earned $203,127 upon its opening weekend in Canada. The film opened to 27 theatres and landed at number one in the box office top five. In the US, Take This Waltz earned $137,019 during its opening weekend across 30 theatres. The film has grossed $1,239,692 in the US.

Critical response

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Film review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes classified the film as fresh with a 79% approval rating among 141 critics, with a rating average of 7 out of 10. Metacritic, which assigns a score of 1–100 to individual film reviews, gave Take This Waltz an average rating of 68 based on 34 reviews. Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York chose Take This Waltz as one of the publications Top Ten Tribeca Film Festival 2012 picks . Rothkopf stated her equally ambitious latest marks Polley as a serious explorer of broken relationships. Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen (more exposed than he s ever allowed himself to be) are married Torontonians who have settled into a too-comfortable domesticity. The simmering friction, caused in part by charming neighbour Luke Kirby, takes the film in surprising directions. Stephen Holden of The New York Times commented The temptations and perils of the grass is always greener syndrome aren t as gripping a subject as Alzheimer s, the topic of Ms. Polley s first film, Away From Her, but the movie radiates a melancholy glow.

Stella Papamichael, writing for Digital Spy, gave the film three out of five stars. She praised Polley s approach to the film calling it different, fresh and exciting , but not as well-balanced as Away From Her. Papamichael added Margot is an emotionally gritty role for Williams and she plays it brilliantly close to the edge, but she can seem at odds with a scenario that has more in common with a Mills & Boon fantasy than the real world. The Guardian s John Patterson proclaimed Take This Waltz s practical wisdom about entropy in relationships and sense of resigned acceptance are leavened by an uncharacteristically active and talkative – and often very witty – performance from Williams. Justin Chang from Variety said Given how quickly movie characters tend to fall into bed with one another, it s especially rewarding to see writer-director Sarah Polley wring maximum tension, humor and emotional complexity from a young wife s crisis of conscience in Take This Waltz. Despite a few tonal and structural missteps, this intelligent, perceptive drama proves as intimately and gratifyingly femme-focused as Polley s 2006 debut, Away From Her. Chang believed the film was flat-out sexy enough to appeal to audiences of either gender and praised Williams and Rogen s performances.

CBC News film reviewer, Eli Glasner, gave Take This Waltz three out of five and stated, Although the film loses its footing near the end, adventurous movie fans should enjoy taking Polley s passion project for a spin. The Daily Telegraph s Robbie Collin commented Polley s ideas and images are never subtle (see: pulsating fairground sequences, a wheeling time-lapse shot backed by the titular Leonard Cohen dirge), but that s part of the charm. Her film is flush with beauty and truth, and is unerringly, unnervingly accurate on love, desire and friendship. Empire s David Hughes awarded the film four out of five stars and said Sarah Polley s second film is a masterfully painted portrait of an ordinary marriage under threat, dominated by a central performance of exquisite subtlety and observation. In December 2012, Andrew O Hehir from Salon revealed that Williams was his first choice for Best Actress at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
Alliance of Women Film Journalists	January 7, 2013	Best Woman Director	Sarah Polley	Nominated
		Best Woman Screenwriter	Sarah Polley	Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society	December 14, 2012	Best Actress	Michelle Williams	Nominated
		Best Director	Sarah Polley	Nominated
		Best Picture	Take This Waltz	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Sarah Polley	Nominated
Directors Guild of Canada	October 20, 2012	Best Direction in a Feature Film	Sarah Polley	Nominated
		Best Sound Editing	Take This Waltz	Nominated
		Best Production Design	Matthew Davies	Nominated
		Best Picture Editing	Christopher Donaldson	Nominated
Genie Awards	March 8, 2012	Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	Michelle Williams	Nominated
		Best Achievement in Make-Up	Leslie Ann Sebert and David R. Beecroft	Nominated
Filmfest Hamburg	October 7, 2012	Art Cinema Award	Sarah Polley	Nominated
Hollywood Film Festival	October 24, 2011	Hollywood Actress Award	Michelle Williams	Won
San Diego Film Critics Society	December 11, 2012	Best Actress	Michelle Williams	Won
		Best Original Screenplay	Sarah Polley	Nominated
San Sebastian Film Festival	September 24, 2012	Golden Seashell	Take This Waltz	Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association	December 17, 2012	Best Arthouse or Festival Film	Take This Waltz	Nominated
Vancouver Film Critics Circle	January 9, 2012	Best Actress in a Canadian Film	Michelle Williams	Won
		Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film.	Seth Rogen	Nominated

Year	2011
ReleaseDate	2012-07-06
RuntimeMins	116
RuntimeStr	1h 56min
Plot	A happily married woman falls for the artist who lives across the street.
Awards	Awards, 3 wins & 19 nominations
Directors	Sarah Polley
Writers	Sarah Polley
Stars	Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman
Produced by	D.J. Carson,Susan Cavan,Sarah Polley,David Sandomierski
Music by	Jonathan Goldsmith
Cinematography by	Luc Montpellier
Film Editing by	Christopher Donaldson
Casting By	John Buchan,Jason Knight
Production Design by	Matthew Davies
Art Direction by	Aleksandra Marinkovich
Set Decoration by	Steve Shewchuk
Costume Design by	Lea Carlson
Makeup Department	David R. Beecroft,Catherine Boyd,Jim Macdonald,Jo-Ann MacNeil,Leslie Ann Sebert,Sondra Treilhard
Production Management	Craig Cameron,D.J. Carson,Joanne Jackson,Claude Nearing,Douglas Wilkinson
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Adam Bocknek,David Forsyth,Missy Morris,Daniel J. Murphy,Erskine Forde
Art Department	Rob Bonney,Malcolm Byard,Carlos Caneca,Dwight Doerksen,David Evans,Neil Floyd,Nuno Franco,Aaron Godd,Robert Grani,Alexandra Hooper,Elis Lam,Raymond MacDonald,Rob McCallum,Samuel McDonald Lemoine,Mario Moreira,James R. Murray,Robert Olah,Victor Chikko Ouon,Dave Rosa,Sasha Sergejewski,Travis Staley,Rachel Woroner,Balint Zasko
Sound Department	Wade Barnett,David Berti,David Caporale,Kathy Choi,Erik Culp,Brian Gallagher,Steve Hammond,Kirk Lynds,Travis MacKay,David McCallum,Steve Medeiros,Joe Morrow,John Naslen,Ian Rankin,Lou Solakofski,Paul Talbott,Jane Tattersall,John J. Thomson,Alan Zielonko
Special Effects by	Tim Lidstone,Laird McMurray,Matthew Tulk
Visual Effects by	Corina Clarin,Gary Couto,Robert Crowther,Tony Cybulski,Kaitlyn Lovatt,Joel Skeete,Iqbal Zafar
Stunts	Alison Reid,Robert C. Shannon
Camera and Electrical Department	Allan Angus,Max Armstrong,Lori Ann Bellefontaine,Pierre Berube,Michael Blatchford,Sean Burton,Bill Campbell,Andrew Caney,Jason Capstick,Robyn Clarke,Johnny Cochrane,Terry Daly,Byrd Dickens,Matt Eakin,Rob Eshelby,Darcy Fraser,Michael Gibson,Gerald Gillis,Jim Holmes,Sean Jensen,Robert Johnson,Terry Kelly,Dino Laurenza,Forbes MacDonald,Scott MacDonald,Jason McGowan,Rob Mountjoy,Akira Nishihata,Bob Poole,Marc Purdy,Ron Renzetti,Augustina Saygnavong,Jordan Schella,Dean Skerrit,Craig Stewart,Alan Sweet,Riley Turner,Todd Voogt,Greg Whiteside,George Willis,Richard D. Leko,Robert C. Shannon
Casting Department	Matthew Campbell,Zameret Kleiman,Wendy Ross,Jane Spencer
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Ciara Brennan,Isabel De Biasio,Roslyn Hanchard,Michele Harney,Madeleine Stewart
Editorial Department	Travis Abels,Darcy Arthurs,Michael Dobroski,Luis Freitas,Joscelyn Goode,Rob Gyorgy,Graham Hoselton,Margaret Hutz,Mark Kueper,Andrew Pascoe,Kurt Reid
Location Management	Scott Beckman,Mike Horechuk,Fred Kamping,Stanley Lidon,Cathy MacDougall,Mark McFadden,Mike Mullen,Gordon Pong
Music Department	Alexander Andresen,Kevin Banks,Michael Banton-Jones,Jody Colero,Jonathan Goldsmith,Ben Grossman,Christine Leslie,Hugh Marsh,Rob Piltch
Script and Continuity Department	Samantha Armstrong,Dug Rotstein
Transportation Department	Patrick Batchelor,Fred Campbell,John Cocks,Michell Desnoyers,Norm Henderson,Stuart Hughes,Jason Leeking,Kent MacDonald,Paul MacEachern,Shelley Mansell,Hugh McCallum,Joe Norris Sr.,John Ozolins,Gilbert Russell,Bruce Stewart,Maurice Tremblay,Jeff Taylor
Additional Crew	Kevin Alakas,Cynthia Amsden,Eric Armstrong,Brian Backman,Lisa Barry,Shauna Barry,Maev Beaty,Cole Dabney,Colombe Demers,Matt Dunbar,Tricia Echlin,Mike Follert,James Fraser,Jonathan Gajewski,Justin Gajewski,Sharon Glicklich,Ray Gordon II,Patricia Hamilton,Barbara Hancock,Alan Hollett,Matt Hunwicks,Tanja Jacobs,Paul Jennison,R. Emerson John,Norma Jean Jones,Samantha Kates,Mazi Khalighi,Alex Kontsalakis,Robert Lamkin,Richard Lee,Jim Lovisek,Paul Mark,Julie McLeod,Jay Melnychuk,Jamie Minns,Tony Nappo,Andrea Nesbitt,Cailin O Neil,Thomas Pepper,Jordan Pettle,Rodger Pike,Cory Pioveson,Diane Pitblado,Selwyn Richards,Colette Thomas,Lucy Veale,Shaun Whitford,Joe Iacono,Christopher Warre Smets
Thanks	Laura Adams,Dylan Aster,Parker Bagnell,Suzanne Bagnell,Roy Bernardi,Raoul Bhaneja,Kathryn Borel Jr.,Emery Bougues,Martha Burns,Celia Chassels,Thierry Chaze,Peter Chiasson,Blair Cohan,Jason Collett,Olivia Corman,Glenn Daigle,Kevin Drew,Atom Egoyan,Leslie Feist,Frank Frattaroli,Veronica Gabriel,Michelle Giroux,Matt Gourley,Katie Holmes,Kish Iqbal,Harry Raymond Kennedy,Susan Lamy,Anita Lee,David Lemoine,Gerri Lemoine,Anne MacKenzie,Christine Mainville,Sarah Manninen,Paula Martins,Alec McClure,Don McKellar,Gaby Morgerman,Edith Myers,Joe Pantalone,Sandy Pereira,Jordan Pettle,Anton Piatagorsky,Laura Pripstein,Jessica Reid,Jeffrey Remedios,Jeanne Marie Robillard,Ava Roth,Jim Russell,Mark Sajatovich,Megan Sandomierski,Michelle Szemberg,Lucie Tiel,Jaco Van Dormael,Meredith Vuchnich,Louise Ward,Audrey Wells,Michael Werner,David Wharnsby,Cathy Worden
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Companies	Joe’s Daughter, Mongrel Media, TF1 Droits Audiovisuels
Countries	Canada, Spain, Japan
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6.5
ImDbRatingVotes	28685
MetacriticRating	68
Keywords	female full frontal nudity,love triangle,bare breasts,woman undresses,female frontal nudity