"Eden" A Study Of Marriage In Crisis

(CBS)  Remember last year's Academy-Award nominated, and surprise sleeper hit "Once?" That independent romantic comedy gained a huge following by audiences and critics alike.

Now, the producers behind the film are hoping to replicate that success this year with the dramatically charged "Eden," which garnered a coveted Best Actress award at this year's Tribeca Film Festival for Irish native Eileen Walsh.

The actress stars as a bored housewife who longs for the physical and emotional affection of her disinterested husband on the eve of their 10th wedding anniversary.

Onscreen, this married couple lacks any intimacy whatsoever in a stirring portrayal of what can at often times go wrong over the course of a long term union.

"I know many married couples who have relaxed relationships. But after a while, it becomes like 'Wait Honey, it's been three months since we last had sex.' Sometimes the relationship becomes too relaxed," Walsh told CBSNews.com.

The actress spoke rather candidly about her character's physical lusting for her emotionally vacant husband.

"There's an animal instinct in my character. It's lovely for her to be valued as a sexual being," Walsh noted.

Indeed, "Eden" screenwriter Eugene O'Brien and director Declan Recks agree with Walsh's assessment, although they were hesitant to create a movie which solely placed the blame on a single spouse. Instead, the filmmakers opted for a portrayal which was truer to the experiences they themselves had witnessed in other relationships.

"We tried to make the husband character more sympathetic, we wanted to convey both sides of this relationship, O'Brien said.

"These people are living in completely different worlds," Recks pointed out. "We tried to keep the two characters isolated throughout the film, in order to emphasize the distance between the two."

Walsh also felt the need to highlight the growing dilemmas facing a modern-day couple.

"Expectations are so much higher today than they were for my parents' generation," the actress said. "We're much tougher on each other than we used to be."

With a multi-dimensional approach, "Eden," vased on a play by Eugene O'Brien, serves as a stirring portrait of a problem now facing many marriages in the 21st century.

Look for the film's release in select cities in November.
By Ken Lombardi