Two Lovers
Dir: James Gray
Rating: 3.0
Magnolia Pictures
108 Minutes
When the credits of Two Lovers rolled, I thought, “What a good story” and “Great acting.” But how can you miss with Joaquin Phoenix and Isabella Rossellini? In some ways Two Lovers reminded me of a 1950s story — a straightforward representation of the ups and downs of heartbreak and the drama of family life. Not much more to figure out.
To the sound of heart-thumping beats, the opening scene follows Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix) as he jumps over a pier rail into the Brighton Beach ocean in an attempt to drown himself. While sinking to the bottom of the murky water he changes his mind, sores to the top and screams for help. Suffering from a split with his fiancee and struggling with a bipolar diagnosis, Leonard had moved back home with his Russian Jewish parents hoping to recover from his first attempt at suicide. Within 24 hours fate steps in and throws two lovely young women in Leonard’s path. Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrom), who is self-destructive but needy and Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) who is sensible but needs a man who is needy. The yin and the yang; his low and his high.
Phoenix’s Leonard is the best thing about Two Lovers Phoenix capably plays this anorak-wearing nerd, perfectly capturing his fumbling gate, unkempt hair, slumped carriage and awkwardness — unless he was on the high end of his bipolar seesaw. The way he interacts with both women could not be more different. When Leonard arrives first to his dinner meeting with Michelle, he orders her favorite drink, tries to sip it through the stirrer before losing it under the table. Conversely, Leonard can be himself around Sandra and she loves him for it. I bet you can’t guess which woman he pursues.
A native of Queens, director James Gray continues his thread of stories that highlight the complexity and tension of opposites (Little Odessa, We Own The Night). Gray captures Leonard bi-polar disorder by using the camera to good affect, occasionally using windows as portals to his protagonist’s moods. At one low moment, Leonard stares through small, beveled panes that cut his face into several images not unlike the splits he so often suffered.
Unfortunately, Two Lovers falls apart by its finale. Another suicide attempt is, of course, inevitable but can Leonard realize that all with Sandra is not lost? Maybe it was his drugs, but Leonard’s second failure of the heart was so quickly remedied that it was unbelievable. The final shot of Leonard being coddled and cuddled (still in his anorak) by Sandra with a dull eye staring into the camera left me thinking . . . “yeah, it’s time to end this.”
by Jane Hruska
