Why Get Married? is the first piece of a series in which producer/director Anne Stirling takes a fresh look at social, historical and emotional themes. Stimulated by her own divorce, Stirling's journey through the institutional imperatives of marriage led to a search for answers that resulted in this documentary.
The 54-minute documentary evolved from a series of interviews spanning three years and two widely flung and disparate settings: Newfoundland-Labrador, Canada and New Mexico, USA. Singles, gays, marrieds, divorced, never-marrieds, wedding planners and marriage experts – no one was safe from the provocative interrogator determined to find the answers to questions like:
- Does everyone need to marry?
- Are we spending more time planning our weddings than our marriages?
- Is it our nature to be in couples?
- What do over 30% of North American adults (including 51% of adult women) who have never married have to say about marriage and dating in one’s 40’s and 50’s?
- Divorce: are marriages failing or just wearing out?
- And finally, what is the answer to WHY GET MARRIED?
This documentary is evocative and thought-provoking, taking a look at the institution of marriage, how it differs in Canada and the USA, and whether it is our nature to want to be in couples or in marriage. Based on a personal quest, the documentary nevertheless resonates with a powerful universal appeal.
