''Blue Valentine'' is a 2010 independent drama film directed by Derek Cianfrance.

[[quoteright:304:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BlueValentinePoster_4327.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:304:Yeah sure, "[[SarcasmMode A Love Story]]"]]

The film is about the doomed marriage of Dean (RyanGosling), a uneducated man working for a moving company, and Cindy (Michelle Williams), a medical student. The film cuts between their early relationship and a weekend several years later, after they are married and presumably near the end of their relationship.

The film features a score composed by the indie rock band Grizzly Bear. Michelle Williams was nominated for a 2011 Best Actress Oscar for her role as Cindy.

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!!''Blue Valentine'' has examples of:

* AnachronicOrder: The story is told with scenes switching from their failing marriage to when they first fell in love.
* TheBabyTrap: The kid isn't Dean's, but its the driving force of why the couple decide to get married.
* ContrastMontage: Takes this one to the logical extreme - the entire movie is basically a contrast montage.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Dean's the poster child for this trope in the flashbacks.
* DarkReprise: Played with: early in the movie during the present storyline Dean puts on a song that he and Cindy slow dance to shortly after fighting in the hotel room. Later on in a flashback Dean plays it and declares to be their song, this actually makes the earlier scene sadder despite its reprise occurring during a happy scene.
* DeadSparks
* DownerEnding
* [[spoiler:GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion]]: Looks like it's going to be averted, but [[spoiler:then played straight at the last possible minute]].
* IdealizedSex: Subverted in one of the saddest, most depressing consensual sex scenes in the past decade.
* {{Jerkass}}: Bobby.
** Dean isn't much better, to be honest. At least when drunk. Still less violent, though (for a given value of "less.")
* TheMasochismTango
* MediaClassifications: The film was originally given an NC-17 for a sad, realistic sex scene during a particularly emotional section of the movie. On appeal, the movie got an R rating without changing a single frame.
* ProductPlacement: The script for the movie won a $1 million prize from Chrysler, and the lead characters drive a Chrysler minivan in the final product.
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