The Door in the Floor Movie Review 2004

This compelling feature gets an extra half-bone for Jeff Bridges' standout performance. He's dissolute but celebrated children's author/illustrator Ted Cole (the title refers to one of his books), who is spending the summer of 1958 in a Hamptons beach house with his inconsolable wife Marion (Basinger) and their precocious four-year-old daughter, Ruth (Fanning). Marion has not recovered from the car crash that killed the couple's two teenaged sons. Ted decides on a trial separation, which means he can continue an affair with wealthy Evelyn (Rogers), and he hires 16-year-old Eddie (Foster) to keep an eye on Marion. Eddie does more than that when he develops an obsession for the lonely woman who begins a sexual relationship with him. Adapted from the first section of John Irving's 1998 novel "A Widow of One Year."

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on DVD
Running time 111 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Books to Film: John Irving, Adultery, Tragedy, Writers, Marriage, Period Piece: 1950s

Screenplay

Tod Williams

Cast

Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jon Foster, Mimi Rogers, Elle Fanning, Bijou Philips, Louis Arcella

Cinematography

Terry Stacey

Director

Tod Williams

Music

Marcelo Zarvos

Other

Tod A. Maitland, Beth Amy Rosenblatt, Affonso Goncalves, Nicholas Lundy, Eric Daman, Therese DePrez

Producer

Ted Hope, Michael Corrente, Anne Carey, This Is That, Revere Pictures, Focus Features