It's crazy: crazy that the girl you once played mini-golf with in middle school could one day be your wife. It's stupid: stupid that it's possible your son could be in love with your seventeen year-old babysitter who is head-over-heels for you, the dad. That, argues this movie, is love. Dan Fogelman named this movie, "Crazy Stupid Love," and rightfully so. The message at first is so unclear and shrouded, it takes some savvy techniques to convey the message adequately to the audience in a cinema. From a womanizer falling for an intelligent lawyer, to a young teenage girl falling for her middle-aged male employer, this movie shows that love comes in many different forms, often unexpected and inconvenient. Though the theme of true love runs throughout the movie, the frame of the parent-teacher conference uses cinematic finesse to throw a spotlight on the message of how crazy and stupid love can be.
             This frame depicting the parent-teacher conference appears about fifty-five minutes into the film. At this point, the viewer has been introduced to all of its main characters. In the shot, you see Cal (Steve Carell), a man with a family, stable job, and success, losing sight of who he is as a man. You see his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), who is feeling the distance in her marriage which leads to her affair with her co-worker, David (Kevin Bacon). Later on in the movie, she acknowledges her conflicting emotions and asks for a divorce. As a result, the couple separates, and the children (Robbie & Molly) go from one house to the other like many modern families. In this particular frame, it is "back-to-school" night. Cal and Emily too often find themselves reunited only in times of confusion. In the hall of weighty silence, they begin communicating their differences, bringing them a step closer to an understanding.
             The dominant in the shot is the centered door between the couple. Attracting the viewer's attention, it elongates...