THE SECRET LIVES OF DENTISTS
A well-acted marriage drama that asks too much of its audience.
Should You Watch It?
The film has real strengths. Its acting is superb, and its direction sometimes reaches genuine brilliance. It also upholds marriage, condemns adultery, and suggests that the trumpet player may be the Devil feeding lies into Dave’s mind.
But the movie makes you work through sexual visions, hints of disaster, and an artistic style that leaves its moral allegory uncertain. The story can be interpreted as a psychological problem instead of a redemptive warning. The source review also finds that the film needs a better script and more money to polish it.
The answer is simple: despite its moral points and strong acting, skip it rather than wade through the material to reach them.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESDave and Dana Hurst are married dentists facing a mid-life crisis. Dave carries much of the weight of their family, three young daughters, and the dental practice, while Dana is focused on singing in an opera.
As tension grows at home, Dave also struggles with an annoying trumpet-playing patient. After seeing Dana with the music director, Dave’s imagination begins filling his life with sexual visions and strange appearances by the trumpet player.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this is a worthwhile but flawed drama, not a complete failure. The acting is superb, and the direction contains moments of real brilliance.
Still, the film gets bogged down in its own artistic conceits. The script needs improvement, and the low-budget production needed more money to polish the result. Even the title creates a misleading impression of a salacious story about dentists abusing patients.
The Worldview
The film presents a largely humanist outlook with a very light moral theme and vague allegorical religious or psychological elements. It values marriage and condemns adultery, but its possible spiritual allegory is not clear enough to guide the viewer confidently. The trumpet player may represent the Devil feeding lies into Dave’s mind, yet the same figure can also be understood as part of Dave’s psychological struggle.
The movie’s moral center is its defense of marriage, but its treatment of sexual fantasy and adultery makes that defense difficult to reach. The story recognizes that lies and unfaithfulness damage a family, while leaving the deeper spiritual meaning uncertain.
Marriage is not merely a private arrangement but a covenant God takes seriously: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Humanist worldview with a very light moral theme and some allegorical religious or psychological elements; 17 obscenities and eight profanities; violence associated with drilling teeth, shooting novocaine into mouths and visions of violently pulling teeth, little girl slaps father and mother, father throws furniture around; sexual foreplay by married couple, and dentist has sexual visions of his wife with other men as well as flashbacks which clearly portray fornication although in a static, non-erotic way; no nudity but female cleavage; drinking to excess; smoking cigars; and, lying, reference to luck, and theme of adultery. GENRE: Drama H B C LL V SS AA D M
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
What does the film suggest adultery and lies do to a marriage and a family? How does Scripture describe the seriousness of marital faithfulness?
Exodus 20:14 · Matthew 19:4–6Dave’s imagination begins filling his life with disturbing visions. How should we respond when our thoughts feed fear, jealousy, or temptation?
Philippians 4:8 · 2 Corinthians 10:5The film leaves its possible spiritual allegory unclear. Why does it matter whether we understand evil as merely psychological or as a real spiritual danger?
Ephesians 6:11–12 · 1 Peter 5:8–9The children sense that something is wrong at home. What responsibilities do adults have when marital conflict affects children?
Ephesians 6:4 · Colossians 3:21The Final Word
This is a well-acted drama with flashes of brilliance and a clear desire to uphold marriage. But the sexual visions, disturbing material, and uncertain allegory cost too much for the moral point it makes. For your family or your own viewing, SKIP IT. See other family-friendly picks instead.
