Snow Angels ***

"Snow Angels" follows the stories of three couples: one young couple just coming together, one couple separated unhappily, and another in the process of breaking up in a small New England town. The young couple includes teenager Arthur (a pitch perfect Michael Angarano). His former baby sitter Annie (a searing Kate Beckinsale), with whom he works at a restaurant, is the unhappy and confused half of the separated couple, but not nearly as confused and unhappy as her husband (a tightly wound Sam Rockwell). And his parents are the ones breaking up (played by a wise Jeanetta Arnette and a suitably intellectualized Griffin Dunne).

These everyday people - waitresses, a carpet salesman, a male nurse, a college instructor - play out everyday stories. There's the separated husband living with his parents, the new smart girl at the high school, the first infidelity of the separated wife. The wrenching tragedy that can strike so unexpectedly. And at the center of it all is Annie, who is trying to make some sense of her life while trying to deal with the obsessive husband she kicked out. As in the superb "In the Bedroom" (2001), there is a toxic mix of marital separation and jealousy. But most of all we have a truly breakout performance from Beckinsale, totally riveting, complex, and unafraid. Here she proves that she can be much, much more than a sexy vampire. The performances are uniformly convincing - a sure sign of good direction - but it is Kate Beckinsale's Annie who carries this picture.

Rated R. 106 minutes. Screenplay and direction by David Gordon Green, from the novel by Stewart O'Nan. Produced by Dan Lindau R. Paul Miller, Lisa Muskat, Cami Taylor. Cinemtography by Tim Orr. Music composed by Jeff McIlwain and David Wingo. Production design by Richard A. Wright. Edited by George Bunce.

Principal actors: Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris, and Olivia Thirlby.