In the Bedroom

In the theater, watching In the Bedroom was an emotionally overwhelming experience. Charting the psychological fallout from an act of violence on an American family, first-time feature director Todd Field set a remarkably sustained tone of escalating dread. Watching the film at home — in the bedroom, if you will — creates a more intimate but no less potent mood. You feel like you’re peeking into real people’s personal lives in a way you never will with ”Big Brother 3.”

Transforming their faces into masks of implacable grief, Oscar nominees Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson bury their accents (hers Southern, his British) along with their characters’ anger as a Maine couple struggling to cope with profound loss. They’re supported by a standout ensemble, including Marisa Tomei (”My Cousin Vinny”) in a career-redeeming performance as an abused spouse. Yet what really makes ”Bedroom” are Field’s fearless artistic choices, most notably a deliberate pace and a morally ambiguous ending. He lets the story breathe, even as the characters — and the audience — can’t.