From one of our leading film historians and interpreters- a brilliantly researched, irresistibly witty, delightfully illustrated examination of the marriage movie ; what it is (or isn’t) and what it has to tell us about the movies-and ourselves.

As long as there have been feature movies there have been marriage movies, and yet Hollywood has always been cautious about how to label them-perhaps because, unlike any other genre of film, the marriage movie resonates directly with the experience of almost every adult coming to see it. Here is happily ever after -except when things aren’t happy, and when ever after is abruptly terminated by divorce, tragedy … or even murder. With her large-hearted understanding of how movies-and audiences-work, Jeanine Basinger traces the many ways Hollywood has tussled with this tricky subject, explicating the relationships of countless marriages from Blondie and Dagwood to the heartrending couple in the Iranian A Separation, from Tracy and Hepburn to Laurel and Hardy (a marriage if ever there was one) to Coach and his wife in Friday Night Lights.

A treasure trove of insight and sympathy, illustrated with scores of wonderfully telling movie stills, posters, and ads.