Search - Rabbit Hole on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

"Rabbit Hole" is a 2010 drama starring Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman in an Oscar-nominated performance, and hoo doggie is it a tear-jerker.

Becca and Howie are a young-ish yuppie couple whose toddler-aged son is killed after chasing his dog into their suburban neighborhood street. It is indeed a blameless accident; the teenage driver Jason (Miles Teller in his first feature role) didn't do anything wrong, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The story revolves around Becca and Howie and the disparate ways they process their grief. It's no secret that many couples do not remain married following the death of a child, and it's easy to see why. In addition to natural thoughts of "it should've been you" and the constant reminders of the loss, people grieve in different ways and can become resentful of how others go about it. This is the primary perspective of the film: Howie enjoys going to their group therapy sessions, Becca does not; Becca wants to remove the physical reminders of their son's existence, Howie does not; Becca eventually decides she wants to sell the house and move, and Howie does not. How do you reconcile these conflicting desires, especially under the shadow of parental grief?

And then there are friends and family, some of whom are covertly unnerved by what this couple has gone through. When Becca wants to give her son's clothing to her pregnant sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard), Izzy is...a little creeped out. It also turns out that Becca and Izzy's mother, Nat (Dianne Wiest) is no stranger to maternal grief, having lost her grown son some years before. But again, what ought to be common ground between Nat and Becca turns out to be a source of friction - neither woman feels the other is grieving "the right way."

Meanwhile, Howie bonds with another woman at his group therapy sessions (Sandra Oh), and Becca bonds with the teenage Jason. This is one aspect of the film that would've been interesting to explore - Jason hits and kills a kid with his car, but how does that affect his life? We learn he's been accepted to college and we see him going to prom like nothing happened, but I think that would've been an interesting aspect to explore.

The screenplay was written by David Lindsay-Abaire based on his stage play, and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Mitchell is an interesting choice for this material - he's mostly known for two sexually-subversive comedies, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," and "Shortbus." (Do not watch Shortbus with your parents.) But it's a tight 90 minutes and at no point does it feel tedious. It's a great character study and I highly recommend it - just know what you're getting into.

Grade: A-minus