Director of Perth’s Catholic Marriage and Fertility Services Derek Boylen says watching and discussing movies about relationships can be a simple and effective way of enriching a couple’s marriage.
Mr Boylen’s comments were in response to the recent publication of US research that found that watching and talking about relationship issues depicted in movies was just as successful in retaining marriages as relationship counselling.
The study was undertaken at the University of Rochester and involved almost 200 couples.
The findings were published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
As part of the three-year study, couples were provided with a list of movies with intimate relationships as a major plot focus, and asked to watch one movie a week, before discussing a list of set questions.
The questions encouraged the couples to reflect on how the relationships portrayed in the movies were similar or dissimilar to their own.
Mr Boylen told The Record that while not everything works for every couple, watching a good movie and engaging in lively conversation afterwards was a simple way for couples to understand one another better.
“I think for many couples it’s a great tool to use for enhancing their marriage,” he said.
“Why not encourage couples to watch a movie each year around the time of their wedding anniversary as an opportunity for marriage enrichment?
“My only concern would be for highly conflicted couples. This approach to marriage enrichment may bring up sensitive issues that a highly conflicted couple are not equipped to handle and could result in a potentially more vulnerable position.”
Gaetan and Catherine Raspanti, who are in their second year of marriage, said the results of the research weren’t a surprise to them.
“[Watching movies] is a way of entering with ease into communication,” Mrs Raspanti said.
“It is always much easier to start talking about problems in an indirect way, especially when you are just starting a marriage.”
Although the pair said finding the time to watch a movie together can be difficult, they wouldn’t be averse to using the movie-talk approach if the need arose.
“I think the marriage film is a good general method or cause of prevention that helps couples to see that things that they face are quite universal,” Mr Raspanti said.
The flexibility of the movie-talk approach makes it an attractive option, Mrs Raspanti said, as movies can be viewed at a couple’s leisure, and in the comfort of their own home.
“It is a very convenient, cheap, non-confronting way,” she said.
“I wouldn’t mind trying it if the movie was specific to the circumstance we were facing, I think it can be quite fun.”