From KCRW in Santa Monica, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to The Treatment.

I'm Elvis Mitchell.

You can also hear this show at KCRW.com.

About a million years ago at the dawn of post-punk, Ian Curtis once said,

Love will tear us apart.

Writer director Derek Cian and Francis brought that lyric and the sentiment of post-punk to many of the films he's made,

starting with his 1998 directorial debut, Brother Tide.

He also brought that to films on Run DMC and Sean Combs.

His films deal with the emotional wreckage of family dynamics.

His newest film, which premiered a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival,

to much acclaim and a lot of noise, was Blue Valentine.

He's here to talk about his new film.

Derek, thanks for being here.

Thank you for having me.

And I do feel like that kind of Ian Curtis thing, that sort of post-punk energy, dealing with the wreckage of emotional violence, is something that really attracts you to drama.

I grew up in a very warm house, a very loving family, loving parents.

But in my house, we used to argue a lot. You know, there was a lot of

fighting is the way I grew up. I always remember looking at family portraits, you know, the Olin Mills

family portraits or the Sears Studio family portraits that were in my house. And we'd all be smiling.

And I would always think to myself, that's just not a true portrait of our family, you know?

And I would look, go over to my friend's houses, you know, whose parents were alcoholics or whatever.

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