A Whole Lot of Love For 'Two Lovers'

by Brett Parker

There is nothing more satisfying than a relationship movie that gets everything right. It’s very rare in today’s cinema to find a dating film with a slice-of-life satisfaction; one that’s devoid of clichés and pays attention to blunt details we can all relate to. That’s exactly what James Grey’s Two Lovers is, a film that knows a tremendous amount about what it feels like to be a brokenhearted man wrestling with loneliness and an unstable woman. If you’ve ever dealt with these two things at any time in your life, then you will find in this film a bittersweet sympathy and insight. Except for what I believe to be a slight misstep in the final act, this drama is damn near flawless.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Leonard Kraditor, a Brooklyn-born man who is suffering deep emotional wounds from life. Due to mysterious issues with health and family, Leonard’s fiancée (Anne Joyce) cut him off and moved far away. This break-up caused Leonard to move back into his parents’ apartment and work for his father’s Laundromat business. We learn that Leonard is on medication and has made multiple suicide attempts. Leonard feels isolated in a world that has plagued him with almost unbearable heartache. His parents attempt to help him by setting him up with Sandra (Vanessa Shaw), the attractive daughter of family friends. Leonard finds her pretty, but doesn’t feel the same sparks he once felt over his fiancé.

Those sparks are ignited once Leonard walks into Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a beautiful blonde who happens to live in the same apartment building as him. Michelle is a gorgeous blonde who appears to possess style, class, and sweetness. She is like a blast of color and sunshine into Leonard’s dreary universe. They begin to start hanging out and a nice chemistry grows between them. Through her, Leonard begins to find a certain happiness again and he attempts to romantically conquer her.

Things aren’t really that simple though. It turns out that Michelle is a lot more troubled than she appears to be. She has a considerable drug problem and is hopelessly in love with a married man named Ronald (Elias Koteas). She flakes out on Leonard and comes crying to him every time there’s a complication with Ronald. Leonard doesn’t think he can handle the stress of dealing with such a woman, so he begins to slowly give dating Sandra a try. Better to have a woman at your side than no one at all, Leonard figures. But as Sandra begins to want something more serious, Michelle begins to hint at affectionate feelings she may have for Leonard. Should Leonard play it safe with Sandra’s sure thing, or should he follow his wild passion for Michelle?

James Grey is turning out to be one of our most patient and uncompromising of directors. His forte so far has been New York-based crime dramas (he directed Phoenix in both The Yards and We Own the Night), but now he has knocked one out of the park with what has to be one of the most superior of relationship films. He has crafted a vivid portrayal of male heartbreak and romantic yearning, yet miraculously this film is not basked in the kind of melancholy usually commonplace with such films. The camera doesn’t simply document Leonard being depressed but shows him genuinely trying to make sense of his emotions and doing what’s best for his aching heart. Leonard is not painted as a depressing mope but a humorous and kind outsider trying his very best to function in a rather unsatisfying world. This film easily could’ve reveled in his character wounds, but the material wisely sees the bigger picture.

It’s some kind of miracle that Grey is able to pull such startling realism and patient subtlety from what could’ve been sanitized and contrived material. We’ve seen such notes played in films before, but rarely have we related to it so strongly. This may not be a scenario of the highest drama, but it strongly affects us because just about everyone has felt hurt like Leonard at one point in their lives. Almost all of us have had an unhealthy attraction to an unobtainable head case such as Michelle. The emotions and plights may belong to these characters, but Grey and his co-screenwriter Ric Menello have carefully crafted things so that anyone can relate strongly to Leonard and Michelle.

In a way, this film presents the same moral dilemma proposed by Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona: is it better to indulge in the wild passions of our hearts or conform to a safe, societal mechanism of “romance?” While Allen’s film left that question open-ended, Grey’s presents us with a final answer. I will not reveal what happens in the film’s final scene, just to say that Leonard makes a decision that I thought to be unwise and too compromised. It’s a testament to Grey that his final decision feels true to the character without contrivance, but I wish Leonard had the strength and wisdom to realize that it’s not worth it to let your heart be dictated by women, or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps Grey is trying to suggest the ways we compromise in life in order to combat our heartaches and loneliness.

Of course this drama would be nothing without the film’s wise and attentive performances, which are aces all around. The entire cast, especially Paltrow, defies character standards we’ve come to expect from these roles, fleshing out human portraits of real people dealing with perplexing emotions. No one is made out to be victims or villains, just people looking out for what’s best for their feelings. This is strongly felt in the acting miracle that is Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Leonard. Phoenix weaves a portrait of such complexity, humor, and longing that we’re in awe of the chords that it strikes within our hearts. He makes us feel Leonard’s every feeling of pain and joy with such a courageous humanity that it shames a ridiculous amount of leading man performances of cinema past. Leonard is right up there with Johnny Cash on the list of Phoenix’s best performances.

By now, almost everyone knows about Phoenix’s seemingly-disastrous decision to retire from acting to flesh out a new career as a hip-hop artist. Armed with an unkempt beard and an alarming strangeness, Phoenix seems fed up with acting and feels rap is now his true calling. While he is a grown man who is allowed to follow his passions, I seriously hope he reconsiders returning to the big screen. We need actors like him. If he indeed never steps in front of a camera again, then cinema will be losing one of its most articulate and fearless of actors. Phoenix pours a devastating amount of uncompromising emotions and fascinating details into his character portrayals without the knowing showiness of most method chameleons. In Phoenix’s work, we can see our own vulnerabilities and our own needs to make connections and sense of the world around us. He’s too good to walk away now.

If performances like Phoenix’s portrayal of Leonard is desperately wanted, then romantic dramas like Two Lovers is also just as craved. This film blows the doors off of the contrived phoniness of most Hollywood romances and is the sucker-punch of truth you’ve been yearning for. It’s like an oasis of heart in a desert of commercial frustration. This is destined to be one of the very best films of the year and is not to be missed!