She is Love
Haley Bennett is someone whom always brings something rich to a movie. Whether she’s a ditzy diva in “Music & Lyrics,” a woman struggling with an unusual appetite in “Swallow,” or a woman in love with the words of one man- and the person of another- in “Cyrano,” there is light and a desire to discover herself in her best roles that is engaging. In “She is Love,” she finds herself unexpectedly thrown back in the orbit of an ex-husband, and the longer they are around each other, the more the good- and bad- comes back up for them.
Patricia (Bennett) is in a country hotel in England on vacation. We get the impression that she is quite tired, and needs the time away from her life. When she gets to her room, she puts herself under the covers, and hopes to be alone. When a pulsing beat is coming from downstairs, she doesn’t quite know what to make of it, but she investigates. It turns out to be her ex-husband, Idris (Sam Riley), is the one laying down the beats. She runs back to her room, afraid to engage with him, but the more it seems they are stuck together- with Idris’s new girlfriend (Louise, played by Marisa Abela) there, as well, an awkward reunion leads to a rekindled sense of emotion neither of them expected.
Writer-director Jamie Adams isn’t interested in telling a straightforward romantic narrative about rekindled love, whether it’s in a comedic way or dramatic way, although “She is Love” certainly has elements of both. Ultimately, what he’s going for is putting exes in a situation where the easy direction for them would be to go their separate ways, and spare each other the discomfort, or just fall easily in love again, but the hard direction, where they have to really face their past together, will likely be the healthiest one going forward. The film has a lot of tonal shifts in 80 minutes, and not all of them really land, but the actors keep us engaged with their commitment to the characters, and how game they are to the situations Adams puts them in. I’ll admit that Riley as Idris is quite annoying a character at times- even when they’re connecting stronger, you feel like she is truly better without him- but there are moments where he and Bennett have our full attention, and its when the awkward nature of the reunion is at its strongest. What we’re left feeling at the end of “She is Love” is a sense that, by the end of this few days together, Patricia and Idris have figured out more about themselves, and what they want, than they did while they were married. That’s a sense of finality we all hope to accomplish in our lives.
