Movie Review: 'She is Love' - A Dreamy, Improvised Romance

Love is her (2023)

Jamie Adams is the director.

Published by Jamie Adams

starring Sam Riley, Marissa Abela, and Haley Bennett

Date of Release: February 3, 2023

Printed on January 30, 2023

By some twist of destiny or deception, eccentric Patricia (Haley Bennett) finds herself in an English hamlet, which just so happens to be the same home that her former husband, Idris (Sam Riley), is sharing with his new partner, Louise (Marisa Abela), in the recently released film, She is Love. Jamie Adams' improvised comedy of contemporary manners revolves around the reunion of Patricia and Idris, which has been a source of awkwardness for both parties for the last ten years. Everything transpiring in the private, fly-on-the-wall style of Jamie Adams.

The topic of nostalgia is intriguing. Everybody has shared experiences with others, and it's interesting to see how different people recall the same events. The strength of Patricia and Idris's shared memories is evident as She is Love explores that concept. Even after spending almost ten years apart, they still have chemistry. Throughout the film, the secretive glances and intense emotional link between Bennett and Riley are full of life and vitality. They discover strange minor digressions and activities to occupy the apparently limitless amount of time they have in this cabin scene after scene.

They don't seem to have a purpose for being where they are. Louise, Idris' girlfriend, is in town for a film part. She may be seen straining to fit into the role when she reads lines. Paradoxically, the language she is rehearsing reflects her current circumstances, as her character regrets not having the leisure to think back on the past. Louise feels very much like an outsider in this setting, and neither her ignorance nor her fear in leaving her lover with his ex-wife are meant to be humorous.

The movie pauses at one point so Louise may dance alone to a lively French tune, releasing all of her pent-up feelings. This is a beautiful, intimate moment that conveys the concern of her personal and professional struggles. I like the subtle ways Adams gives her room to express her feelings. She's not a stupid persona. She would play the antagonist preventing a couple of ex-lovers from experiencing genuine love in subsequent, lesser films. Jamie Adams doesn't spend his time on stuff like this.

The peculiar exchanges between Patricia and Idris—drink, talk, get wasted, and reminisce—have a lot of hidden meanings. They engage in some inebriated tennis on a tennis court, which is one especially stunning exchange. The pleasure stops when Idris makes a confession, and it's easy to see why this is such a distressing discovery. Although the inference and its consequences are obvious, they are not addressed explicitly right once. The fact that these people already know one other and don't need to explain anything to one another—they experienced this—makes the screenplay excellent. In lesser films, the characters clarify what should have been evident to the two witnesses at the scene.

You may attempt to ignore the past, but it always seems to find a way back to the forefront. I have a notion, but it is entirely based on emotion rather than any kind of scientific foundation: I believe that time travel is not only feasible but really occurs often. Things, people, and places transport us back in time. These objects have the ability to transport us back in time so vividly that we experience it as if we are physically and emotionally there. That concept is heartbreakingly portrayed in She is Love. When Patricia meets Idris, she can clearly recollect scenes from her past. While you could just label it as a memory, I believe it goes beyond that because sometimes memories may seem so real—as if you were there or had time travel to that particular moment.

She is Love is a beautiful, private, reflective, and poignant movie. The positive and negative aspects of life, as well as the memories and treasured moments, are all beautifully captured in the movie. Whether they want to or not, the people in our life represent the good and the terrible memories. They may make the unpleasant things difficult to forget while also improving the positive things. People we love inevitably come to be connected, whether consciously or unconsciously, with things we detest due to the nature of the mind and memory.

One of my lowest points in life is connected to one of my best pals. I would never leave them behind if it meant trying to forget that sorrow. Even with a huge tragedy entwined with it, the good much surpasses the negative. That is not specific to me or you; it is something that we have all encountered or will eventually encounter. Patricia and Idris embodied so much of what they loved and hated about their own romances, and She is Love does a fantastic job of capturing that.

I may be overly illustrating my argument, but I really want to make my point clear. Consider a close loved one. Imagine them there now in the event of a serious trauma. They now become a part of that painful recollection. Conversely, picture the person you love being there for you during the happiest moment of your life—they will always be associated with it as well. People we love are more than simply acquaintances; they serve as memory movers and mold the experiences that define our own lives. Whether on purpose or not, She Is Love investigates that very notion.

Once, Idris and Patricia got married because of their intense love for one another. After that, they were divorced and stopped seeing one other, despite the fact that events in their life may have forced them back into contact. When they encounter one other again, the memories—both pleasant and unpleasant—blow back in a visceral, dizzying way that is startling and exhilarating at the same time. Imagine running into a past romantic partner on the street after years of not seeing one other. You instantly go back in time to all of your pleasant and unpleasant recollections of that individual. It resembles sentimental time travel.