This is a wonderful movie about coming of age and the difficulties in the everyday family life. This movie unites in a wonderful form comedy and tragedy with Jeff bridges in a top form. The story about a writer that deals with the death of his sons and that for often feels regret and sadness. The accident also distresses the family life. It also is about coming of age of a young student that is hired to assist Bridges and to get experience in writing. Bridges's wife and this young student get very close in a form to even more disturb family life in the little idyllic farm of the writer. So it's a wonderful comedy and drama representing the daily family life.

After a tragic accident took the life of their two teen-aged sons, children's book author Jeff Bridges (as Theodore "Ted" Cole) and his still beautiful wife Kim Basinger (as Marion) moved to wealthy East Hampton, Long Island. Presently, their marriage is falling apart. He invites women over to model and orders them to strip for sexually suggestive illustrations. She mournfully keeps pictures of dead sons Thomas and Timothy around the house and takes lonely walks on the beach. To help around the house and fill a void left by his deceased sons, Mr. Bridges hires a good-looking young man to spend the summer as his assistant. After being driven home by pretty-in-pink Ms. Basinger, young hire Jon Foster (as Edward "Eddie" O'Hare) is invited to shower with Bridges...You know either Bridges or Basinger will be having sex with Mr. Foster before very long. When Foster fails to pick up on sexy sitter Bijou Phillips (as Alice) saying, "not my type," you're wagering on Bridges. But when Foster gets chummy with Basinger's bra and panties, all bets are off. The older woman, younger man duo start doing it all over the house. Neither he nor she desires privacy, so Bridges and model-perfect preteen daughter Elle Fanning (as Ruth) find out. A part-time nudist, Bridges only regrets that his little girl had to see it "doggie style." After a flashback, it all leads to "The Door in the Floor". Although they don't try to be, the situation and characters are most uninteresting. You probably have to read the book to understand it completely.***** The Door in the Floor (6/18/04) Tod Williams ~ Jeff Bridges, Jon Foster, Kim Basinger, Mimi Rogers

I just watched this movie again tonight, years after seeing it when it first came out. So what is the meaning behind "The Door in the Floor" which child story writer Ted Dole refers to in his haunting tale? One major clue comes from the final scene of the movie when Jeff Bridges' character is left as the sole adult in his house. After playing an exhausting solo game of racketball, he breaks down emotionally. Only at that moment, do we discover that the door in the floor is not just a made up place in his children's book but a very real and secret place hidden deep inside his house. After struggling emotionally, he finally surrenders to the mysterious pull… slowly opens the door, crawls into the dark open space looking like a ghost and the door slowly closes on him, swallowing him whole. To me, the door in the floor is this ugly, horrific dark place some people have carved inside of them as a coping mechanism for whatever traumatic event they have endured. It is that place where they are alone with the pain and are confronted to the memories with no place to hide. I suppose some people would refer to it as post traumatic disorder. I find it fascinating that Ted's tale is told from the mother's perspective, and not the father's. This important detail to me demonstrates the untold, only evoked depth of his love and compassion for his wife as he chooses to focus on her pain (instead of his). In his tale, I believe he shows a clear understanding of what his wife has been going through the years and is still struggling with: The grieving mother of two dead sons haunted by her third child's mortality. Another important detail that strikes me is that in the tale, the mother opened the door but never actually went through it: instead, she closed the door, never to reopen it again. In the tale, her hair turned permanently white. This to me relates to his wife having lived through the trauma of the car accident first-hand and never being able to deal with and relate emotionally to that fatal day (turning to stone when she was asked how her sons died). Her decision to not go through the door in the floor has prevented her from moving on, she's simply been frozen in time and space since that horrible day. Jeff Bridges' character on the other hand has found a different coping mechanism. He too is struggling and suffering tremendously yet by acknowledging the door in the floor and visiting that dark place every now and then, he has been able to stay connected to the world around him (no matter how scandalous and outrageous his behavior might be at time). Excellent. Stunning and poignant piece of work.

The Door In The Floor was beautifully shot and edited, and put together with high production values - although someone spotted the boom mic in a few shots. The locations are used very well, you get a good feeling of the space. The soundtrack was awful, your usual orchestral Hollywood tripe.The acting was variable - Jeff Bridges's performance excellent, Basinger doesn't have much to do except staring blankly out to sea, and Foster woody and unconvincing. There isn't much character development, and the director gives no idea of the passing of time. Moodwise, it is a mixture of tragic and slapstick, which actually seems to work quite well - possibly down to Bridges.All in all, just about watchable if a bit miserable. Probably saved by Bridges.