Grief. The aching, shocking loss of losing someone we love. 
There are self-help books flooding Borders bookshelves, seminars, support groups, and online communities that revolve around the essential elements of mourning.
Unfortunately, grief does not often take a linear path or neatly process through a series of stages or emotions, particularly when one must confront the unfathomable loss of a child.
Becca and Howie Corbett (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) are a formerly happily married, affluent couple living in their dream home and relishing their role as parents to their son. However, everything changes one fateful day when their son Danny chases after his dog into the street and is struck and killed by a car.
Becca’s grief assumes the role of anger. She radiates hostility and seethes with rage at the injustice, all the while assuming a certain sense of practicality in her grieving process. She boxes up Danny’s clothes for Goodwill, removes his artwork from the refrigerator, judiciously edits her conversations of his mention, and lashes out at her ne’er do well sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard) who finds herself suddenly pregnant by her boyfriend of the moment and her wacky but well-meaning mother (Dianne Wiest) who tries to offer her pearls of wisdom. Howie on the other hand, reels in sadness and despair, desperate to preserve the memories of his son by watching his home video clips obsessively, tracing over his son’s height marks on the wall, and reveling in the comfort offered by the support group. The couple’s polar opposite ways of coping with their grief not surprisingly, create tension.
Case in point: “I’m just trying to make things nice,” Howie explains to Becca. Becca immediately snaps back, “Things are not nice anymore!”
Becca and Howie are challenged as they navigate this unfamiliar terrain of grief as friends reach out, while others pointedly distance themselves. As their marriage falters and the couple each court private temptations, Becca and Howie must determine if they can find their way out of their pain and cope with the overwhelming, ever-present absence in their lives.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awarding winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire and Oscar nominated for Nicole Kidman’s performance, the Rabbit Hole admittedly is not a “fun” night at the movies. However, it is an important film that charts a couple’s journey through grief, an unfortunate commonality that all of us whether young or old have deeply felt as we struggle with loss in our lives. Can Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart claw their way out of the rabbit hole? We surely hope so, as their struggle is our essential struggle and we root for them to find a way to love through unimaginable loss.