Film

SWEARING JAR, THE

A film about love, forgiveness and self-recrimination, director Lindsay MacKay’s The Swearing Jar follows would-be singer-songwriter Carey, who is reluctantly falling for Owen, a clerk at the local bookstore. The rub is that she’s still deeply in love with her husband, Simon. Employing a daring narrative strategy, The Swearing Jar argues that real love lingers no matter how we or our situations change.

Simon and Carey’s relationship is complicated by secrets and the fact that they’re young and essentially newlyweds, so they’re not above some truly heated, hurtful arguments. Carey is also pregnant, which is both welcome and problematic. Her flirtation with Owen, meanwhile, is necessarily founded on discretion and half-truths. On the fringes is Simon’s crusty mother, Bev (Kathleen Turner), who ends even the most cheerful and tender encounters with a caustic comment or an ill-placed reminder that men will always leave, one way or another.

The film explores Carey’s headspace, revealing what she finds in each relationship, telling a complicated story with charm, humour and grace.