Like the majority of television programmes, the quality of the conversations we see on screen in The Shining are often mundane. Conversations stop and start, repeat themselves and flounder (Jack�s subconscious repetition of �per second, per second� during his conversation with Lloyd the barman being a great example of this), in a manner that appears natural and unscripted. Whilst some have suggested that this is lazy, it is, in fact, the highest form of acting : making it look as if its not acting at all, but cinema verite. This was a trick Kubrick was later to repeat in Eyes Wide Shut with his depiction of the characters inner lives : endless shots of characters washing, shaving, and changing clothes. We saw inside them.
But the inner lives of Jack and Wendy are odd, mismatched rhythms, with an odd, mismatched couple. Despite their best efforts, they clearly don�t always like each other and have instead settled into a comfortable form of prison : the loveless marriage. Only once do they show affection to each other in 144 minutes, and this is too brief, fleeting, and cross-faded in a bat of an eyelid.
