The Husband from director Bruce McDonald is a Canadian drama, a black comedy starring writer/actor Maxwell McCabe-Lokos. Henry (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) has had what could charitably be described as a bad year. His wife (Sarah Allen) is in prison for having an affair. With a 14 year old. Whom she was teaching. As a result, Henry is left to hold it together, looking after their baby son and working in a job he hates. His only friend (August Diehl) is a teacher at the school the child in question has transferred to, setting off a chain of events that just get progressively worse and more pathetic.

Serious without being overbearing, emotional without becoming overwrought, The Husband examines male rage and what it really means to be a man and a father. Is it possible to take someone back after such a terrible betrayal? How do you pick up the pieces when it’s all said and done? How long can you let anger fester? Weighty questions with no concrete answers. Director Bruce MacDonald controls the proceedings, and gives us clear insights into all the characters mindsets and motivations, making them equal sympathetic and unpleasant. The characters here are far more than just a two dimensional cut-out, they live and breathe and change as the story progresses.

It’s not an easy movie to watch, but it is a good one. More could have been done to develop Allen’s character, she is left as largely a “confused” blank slate, but the fact it deals with how a family deals with pedophilia and molestation rather than the victim and the perpetrator almost insists on the set-up. The Husband premiered at TIFF13 in Toronto with a riveting performance from Maxwell McCabe-Lokos. Also starring are Sarah Allen, August Diehl and Stephen McHattie.

Recommended.

Donal O’Connor