David and I also loved In the Bedroom. I thought he would think it slow, but we discussed how the pace mirrored the emotions of the story and the personality of Mainers. We spent five days last summer in the two towns where that was filmed. It was wonderful. The friendly, hardworking, but solemn New Englanders are not a stereotype. The land is as beautiful as it looks; it was really cool to be in the exact spots as the characters, seeing perspectives from mountaintops, down Main Street, out into the harbor. If I hadn't been there, I would want to go after seeing the movie. The film perfectly captures the people, the places and even the architecture and decor, which also reflects the simplicity and love of the sea of the people.

Terese, as you've mentioned in Southern literature, it seems that in a lot of these New England coastal movies, (In the Bedroom, Shipping News) the environment plays out as an important character in the story.

It seems that wherever the environment is harsh, it forces people to build their personalities and culture to embrace the environment and to learn to live with that harshness.

Do these people have stronger character than us?