“She Is Love”

Movie Review

Haley Bennett, Sam Riley, and Marisa Abela are the stars of the British romantic drama "She is Love," which was written and directed by Jamie Adams. A divorced couple who have been estranged for more than ten years revisits their past while being open to fresh beginnings.

A quasi-love triangle or relationship narrative, "She is Love" has one of the three participants who doesn't appear overly concerned with what transpires. You're likely to feel the same about what amounts to an exceedingly loose offering by Jamie Adams despite a few intelligent moments and a few humorous exchanges.

A talent scout named Patricia, played by Haley Bennett, finds herself booking a room at the Cornwall boutique hotel where her ex-husband Idris, played by Sam Riley, lives and works with his much younger girlfriend Louise, played by Marisa Abela. This unexpected turn of events or perhaps it was planned leads Patricia to meet Idris. After accidentally throwing Idris off the wagon with her appearance, we quickly realize that Patricia is going through some sort of midlife crisis. The two quickly enter a long night of drinking and reminiscing, while in a parallel storyline that feels almost like it belongs in a sitcom, Louise, an aspiring actress, tries to learn her lines for a recently desired part.

The issue is more with the lack of attention than the performances. The sense of motion and our interest in what happens to any of these characters shrivel after twenty minutes. The Louise storyline, while slightly entertaining, feels like fluff, and an undeserved end-of-film montage that flashes past "iconic" scenes from the movie we just watched unintentionally makes us chuckle instead of providing the catharsis that was intended.

When Idris tells Patricia words like "You inspired me," you wonder why that section wasn't left in the movie for us to experience. The film, which was mostly improvised from an outline, pays off too little. You can hardly imagine Patricia and Idris ever having been married in the first place, despite the fact that they are meant to be reverting to their former habits. It's unfortunate because there is obviously enough talent present to have created something more remarkable; all that is lacking is a person who knows how to capitalize on it.

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