A movie about losing a spouse and fighting drug addiction can be a bit overwhelming. Things We Lost in the Fire is certainly not the type of film you would consider watching to relax after a long week at work, or to take a first date to. However, Danish director Susanne Bier, in her first English-language movie attempt, does an amazing job balancing the tragedy with small, heartwarming scenes that provide chuckles of relief amid the rest of the sobering realism.

The film follows Audrey, played by Halle Berry, as she struggles to deal with her husband Brian's (David Duchovny) death and tries to raise their two children without him. She reaches out to an unlikely source of comfort, Brian's friend from second grade who has turned into a heroin addict, Jerry, compellingly portrayed by Benicio del Toro.

Although at first it may seem strange that Audrey would find solace in an addict, you soon see that Jerry is her link to Brian. He's the only other person that knew her husband as well as she did.

Perhaps as a woman who has been married for 12 years, I naturally put myself in the place of Audrey. Some feminists may bristle at the vulnerability this character displays as she tries to survive without her husband, someone who had always taken care of her. But as I watched her struggle on screen with trying to do renovations, throwing out her husband's clothes, and even sleeping alone, I felt it was similar to the way I would react. I laughed as, after several sleepless nights, she dragged a surprised and perplexed Jerry into her bedroom to rub her ear, something that her husband used to do to help her fall asleep. And I cried as she tried to clean out their closet, only to put Brian's clothes back because she could not let go.

It's so hard — the act of letting go, which is truly what this film is about. The movie's website even prompts you to type in something you need to let go of; it's the first step of moving forward, of healing, of getting beyond the grief.

And as Audrey reaches out to Jerry to help her let go of Brian, she helps him let go of heroin. However, true to its realistic approach and even though the romantic undertone is very present, the movie never unites these two characters in a sappy happy ending, thankfully. That would have destroyed the integrity of the film, I think. What you are left with instead is a sense of hope that these two characters will triumph over their difficult situations and move on to happier times.