Dr. Dave Hurst is a quiet, unassuming dentist that tries his best to avoid conflict, in both his personal and professional life, but isn't brave enough - or enough of a psychopath - to act upon the scarier side of his thoughts and fantasies.

He and his partner (at work and at home) Dana have created their "dream life" with a private practice, nice house, country retreat... and three beautiful young girls.

Since he is more meditative and less adventurous than his thrill-seeking wife, their roles as parents face an inevitable reversal and David seems more content with the hand he's been dealt, apparently happy to take care of the majority of the childcare.

This allows Dana, an amateur soprano, to pursue her desire to sing opera... namely by devoting all of her time and effort to a one-off performance in the chorus of a professional company.

Ironically, it's a lucky charm - a rabbit's foot bought by Lizzie, the eldest of their daughters, for her mum - that leads to the first visible cracks in their otherwise gleaming relationship.

At Lizzie's behest, Dave rushes to the opera dressing rooms to hand his wife the good-luck gift but instead catches a glimpse of her getting cosy with another man.

Although he saw nothing more than a brief moment of intimacy, it's enough to set Dave's imagination alight with all sorts of fantasies involving his wife with strangers, colleagues and clients... but never him.

And it's this feeling of jealousy combined with his emotionally repressed nature that leads Dave to imagine conversations with one of his patients Slater (Leary), a difficult and hard-living musician with toothache.

It's an effective technique in which to show Dave's thought process and internal anguish during his struggle to keep his family, and himself, together and allows space for some mouth-watering dark humour.

Behind the good lines and touching performances, this is an intriguing story of a father's repression in a marriage that's lost its spark. The reason it works so well is down to Scott's understated performance in which he creates a passively aggressive character we can't help but sympathise with.

Hope Davis' New York Film Critics Circle Award for best actress and the movie's selection in both the Sundance and the Toronto film festivals are justified...

It's much better than a kick in the teeth.

Dominic Bloch