Movie Review: 'She is Love' is a Dreamy Improvised Love Story

She is Love (2023)

Directed by Jamie Adams

Written by Jamie Adams

Starring Haley Bennett, Sam Riley, Marissa Abela

Release Date February 3rd, 2023

Published January 30th, 2023

Through some trick or fate, oddball Patricia (Haley Bennett) ends up at a cottage somewhere in England that happens to be the same cottage that her ex-husband, Idris (Sam Riley), is staying at with his new love, Louise (Marisa Abela) in the new movie, She is Love. Patricia and Idris have not seen each other in 10 years and that, along with this supremely awkward coincidence of location, becomes the subject of Jamie Adams' improvised comedy of modern manners. All of it playing out in Jamie Adams' intimate fly on the wall fashion.

Reminiscing is a fascinating subject. We all have memories we share with others, and it is fascinating to compare how you remember things. She is Love engages with that idea between Patricia and Idris and the power of their memories together is palpable. Their chemistry remains even after nearly a decade apart. Bennett and Riley's conspiratorial glances and emotional bond bubbles with life and energy throughout the movie. Scene after scene they find odd little asides, things to do to fill the seemingly endless amount of time they have in this cottage.

Neither appears to have any reason to be where they are. Idris' girlfriend, Louise, is here for a movie role. We see her reading lines and struggling to get into character. Ironically, the dialogue she's practicing mirrors the situation she's in as her character laments not wanting to spend time reflecting on the past. Louise is very much an outsider in this situation and her insecurity isn't played for laughs, nor is her cluelessness as she leaves her boyfriend alone with his ex-wife.

At one moment, the film stops to allow Louise to express all of her tense emotions in a lonely dance to an upbeat French song. It's a lovely and revealing moment, capturing the anxiety of both her professional and personal struggle. I love the small ways that Adams allows her the space to explore her emotions. She's not a foolish character. In other, lesser movies, she'd be the villain standing in the way of true love between a pair of exes. Jamie Adams doesn't waste time on such things.

There is a lot of subtext built into the unusual interactions between Patricia and Idris as they drink and chat and get drunk and reminisce. One particularly striking interaction comes on a tennis court as they play some drunk tennis. Idris makes a confession that brings the fun to a halt and it's not hard to sense why this revelation is so troubling. The implication is clear as is the impact of that implication but it is not immediately stated plainly. That's a good piece of screenwriting, understanding that these characters don't have to spell things out to each other, they lived this. Lesser movies make the characters spell out what should be obvious to two people who were there when it happened.

As happens with the past, you can try and ignore it, but it always seems to find its way back to the fore. I have a theory and it's not one that is based in any kind of science, purely in emotion: I think time travel is not just possible, I think it happens every day. People, places, things, take us back to moments. Sometimes these things take us back in time so viscerally, it feels like we are really back there, in that moment with all of the emotion and physical essence in place. She is Love captures that idea in heartbreaking fashion. Patricia when she sees Idris can vividly recall moments in her life and while you might just call that a memory, I think it's more than that, I think that for a moment, a memory can be so real, it's as if you are there, as if you traveled back to that moment.

She is Love is a lovely, intimate, thoughtful and emotional film. The film pops with the good and bad of life, the things we remember and cherish and the things we wish we could forget. People in our lives, whether they want to or not, embody those memories, the good and the bad. They make the good things better and can make the bad things impossible to forget. It's the nature of the mind and memory, people we love come to be associated with things we hate, intentionally or otherwise.

One of my closest friends is linked to one of the saddest moments of my life. To try and forget that pain would mean leaving them behind and I would never do that. The good, far outweighs the bad, even with such a significant trauma intertwined with it. That's not unique to me or you, it's something we have all experienced or will experience one day. She is Love captures that beautifully as Patricia and Idris embody so much of what they love and hate about their own loves.

I may illustrate my point a little too much but, I really want to underscore what I am getting at. Think of someone you love dearly. Now, think of them being there when you experience a severe trauma. They are now part of that traumatic memory. On the flip side, now imagine that person you love being their during the greatest joy of your life, they are forever linked to that as well. People we love are more than just people, they are vehicles for your memory, they shape the way you remember moments of your own life. She is Love, whether intentionally or not, explores that very idea.

Idris and Patricia once loved each other so much that they were married. They then divorced and didn't see each other again, even as things in their lives should have perhaps drawn them back into orbit. They see each other again and those memories, the good and the bad, rush back in a heady, visceral fashion that is both exciting and jarring. Think of seeing a former lover on the street one day after not seeing each other for years. In that moment, you go back in time to the good and bad memories associated with that person. It's like emotional time travel.

Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Find my modern review archive on my Vocal Profile, linked here. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean. Follow the archive blog on Twitter at SeanattheMovies. Listen to me talk about movies on the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast. If you have enjoyed what you have read, consider subscribing to my writing here on Vocal. If you'd like to support my writing, you can do so by making a monthly pledge or by leaving a one-time tip. Thanks!