In the Bedroom is a 2001 American crime drama film directed by Todd Field, and dedicated to Andre Dubus, whose short story Killings is the source material on which the screenplay, by Field and Robert Festinger, is based. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, and William Mapother. The title refers to the rear compartment of a lobster trap known as the "bedroom" and the fact that it can only hold up to two lobsters before they begin to turn on each other.

 

The film is set in the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine. Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek), a choral music teacher. Their only child, Frank Fowler (Nick Stahl), home from school for the summer, is working as a part-time lobsterman to earn money for graduate school in the fall. He is involved in a love affair with a local single mother, Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei). As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable woe as Frank's relationship ends in tragedy. Subsequently, Frank's parents are forced to negotiate their way through their evolving response to their loss.

 

Upon its release, the film was internationally praised for its direction, script, and performances, possessing a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 100% rating among the "Cream of the Crop" critics. A.O. Scott included the film in his New York Times essay "The most important films of the past decade—and why they mattered."

 

With the exception of Napoleon Dynamite, In the Bedroom had the largest box office of any film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in the last decade. The film grossed a worldwide total of$43,368,779. It went on to become the highest-grossing non-IMAX film in history to never reach the top 10 in a given week.

 

At the 74th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture (Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field), Best Actor (Tom Wilkinson), Best Actress (Sissy Spacek), Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei) and Best Screenplay- Adapted (Robert Festinger and Todd Field).