Love Is Strange

Synopsis: New Yorkers Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) are an elderly gay couple who, after 40 years, are finally able to marry. When George, a music teacher at a Catholic school, is fired from his job, financial constraints force the pair into a temporary separation. Ben moves in with his nephew and George sleeps on a friend’s couch. As they deal with the uncertainties of the future and the discomforts of being “guests” the only thing that remains constant is their enduring love for one another.

Love is Strange is an odd title for a film that at its heart is a portrait of tender and unwavering affection. Despite the tensions and trials that the main protagonists, Ben and George, must endure, their love for one another is never questioned. It would seem that the title more likely refers to the kind of love proffered by friends and family, a love that may be wholehearted but is never as intense as that which exists between significant life partners.

The film opens at Ben and George’s wedding and subsequent reception, an intimate affair brimming with emotion and goodwill. Ben’s nephew Elliot (Darren E. Burrows), his wife Kate (Marisa Tomei), and their son Joey (Charlie Tahan) are among the most ebullient guests. Later, when the couple share their financial woes with their friends and family members, everyone is keen to help out and share the load.

The initial supportive atmosphere that director/screenwriter Ira Sachs and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias create here is neatly inverted later on when the new living arrangements become tiresome. As Ben so eloquently puts it: “Sometimes when you live with people you know them better than you care to”.

In Ben’s case his nephew’s family become increasingly irritated with him, particularly Joey who has to share his bedroom and Kate, a writer who struggles to work with her house guest padding around her apartment making conversation. Adding another dimension to the story is Elliot and Kate’s marriage  which sits in contrast to Ben and George’s,  particularly as Elliot fails to shoulder any of the responsibility for his uncle. Through deft writing and subtle performances the cracks in Kate and Elliot’s marriage, including their inconsistent parenting styles, become apparent.

Meanwhile George, who is weighed down with responsibility in his role as the more practical of the two must contend with his roommates’ incessant socialising and spontaneous parties, providing ample fodder for Molina to showcase his acting talent. A scene in which in complete frustration he breaks down is particularly moving. Lithgow is restrained in his performance, rendering Ben with a fragility and vulnerability that adds to the dramatic realism of the piece.

In this discursive drama, set to the emotive strains of Chopin, all these scenes of everyday life and the capacity to cope with adversity add up to a simple message: true devotion is the rarest of things.

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