[Bates had explored some of the themes of the story — depression, overcoming fears — before. Marriage, however, was newer territory.] It's always presented either as the romance or the tragedy, ... We don't look too often at what marriage really is. Marriage masks thousands of different arrangements — behind the scenes, it's all about change and negotiation and compromise. But we have the same attitudes toward marriage that we have toward death and dying — we want to sanitize it.

Kathy Bates