“New things get old.” So says an older woman to a group
of younger women in Sarah Polley’s second directorial feature, Take This Waltz. The scene has three
younger women showering, their bodies in full view of the camera, alongside a
group of older women for whom time has quite clearly caught up with their
bodies, wrinkled and sagging as they are. Yes, new things get old, whether we’re
talking about the supple physical beauty of youth or a husband after five years
of marriage. One of those young women needs to keep this refrain in mind as she
considers an affair with a neighbor.
