Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, and Joey Curtis wrote the film, and the band Grizzly Bear scored it.

Blue Valentine depicts a married couple, played by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, shifting back and forth in time between their courtship and the dissolution of their marriage several years later.

Later, despite Cindy's reluctance due to being scheduled as on-call for work the following day, Dean insists on a getaway at a motel 2 hours away to “get drunk and have sex”.

While driving them to the motel, Cindy stops by a liquor store and has an awkward encounter there with her ex, Bobby, which causes an ensuing argument in the car between her and Dean.

Flashbacks reveal that Dean was a hopeless romantic high school dropout, working for a moving company in Brooklyn.

She is dating a fellow student named Bobby and one day, the two have intercourse where he ejaculates inside her without her consent.

Overwhelmed by his advances and frustrated with his lack of ambition, she questions Dean while they are drunk which leads to another explosive outburst.

More flashbacks reveal that while Dean is delivering furniture to a nursing home in Pennsylvania, he runs into Cindy, who is visiting her grandmother.

Initially pushy with his advances, he gives her his work number but she never calls; however, they coincidentally meet again on a bus and begin seeing each other.

Back at the motel, an annoyed Dean finds the note upon waking and shows up drunk at the clinic.

Back at her parents' house, Dean tearfully pleads with an upset Cindy to give the marriage another chance for Frankie.

The director was also unable to film the "young" and "older" scenes several years apart as he had hoped, again due to lack of money.

Because her partner Heath Ledger had died the previous year, Williams wanted to stay close to her Brooklyn home to take care of their[4] daughter, Matilda.

Gosling and Williams improvised dialogue; the scene in which their characters wander through New York together was unscripted, for example; the actors—who had both appeared in The United States of Leland (2003) but had not shared scenes—got to know each other during its filming.

[3] Before filming the marriage dissolution between the main characters, Gosling and Williams prepared by renting a home, bringing their own clothing and belongings, buying groceries with a budget based on their characters' incomes, filming home movies and taking a family portrait at a local Sears with the actress who played their daughter, and staging out arguments.

[3][6] Cianfrance visited the actors and assisted them in building tension while remaining in character: "One night he told Gosling to go into Williams' bedroom and try to make love to her.

Special features include an audio commentary with director Derek Cianfrance, a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and home movies.

[21] Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 212 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.80/10.

The website's critical consensus states: "This emotionally gripping examination of a marriage on the rocks isn't always easy to watch, but Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling give performances of unusual depth and power.

[23] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, and wrote: "Dean seems stuck.