After Love

After Love presents a realistic portrayal of a woman who goes through a whole spectrum of emotions in response to discovering a dark secret. Joanna Scanlan's portrayal of Mary, a woman who has discovered her husband was having an affair was excellent. It is intriguing yet deeply uncomfortable to see the central character being forced to deal with a painful situation, particularly when her means of dealing with her grief are morally dubious. However, we cannot help but be compelled to empathise with these morally dubious acts even though we hopefully might not endorse them ourselves. While we can empathise with the other characters the empathy that we feel towards them is offset and minimised by contrast to the loneliness of Mary and rightly so. At no point does Joanna Scanlan's performance feel hamfisted or stilted as we see her navigate through the turmoil generated by loss and, at the same time, infidelity. It is difficult not to feel anger on her behalf, yet what is more important about this film is the importance of finding a means of moving on and not letting the pain of infidelity consume her.

This reminds me of the kind of movies the English BFI used to make back in the 50s -60s - except then, they knew they had limited outlets, so made them short for the experimental market (the thoughtful 'Together' '56 comes to mind). This British/French production might have been better as a 40min featurette or a 1 hr (max) TV show but here, has been stretched out to feature length, and even at 90mins creaks and groans its way to its laborious end. British/Pakistani writer director Aleem Khan has a reasonable grip on grief but pads out his stories transfer to the screen with ponderous, overly arty shots, often knitted together in a visually clumsy fashion --minimal dialogue and situations bordering on unbelievability-- with many scenes ending up as self-aware navel gazing. This is the stuff Film Festivals and fringe cinema thrive on, especially when it unnecessarily adds trendy homosexuality to its agenda pushing themes. Chris Roe's minimalist music score is well used and the cinematography is stylish, all performances are professional but its overall entertainment appeal will be certainly limited. Some might even sum this up as one of those movies that unfold in two speeds; slow and dead stop.

The movie "After Love" is an adult film that discusses the strength of a relationship of a couple after one departs. The realization that we haven't known the person we've been in living together for many years. The painful discovery of a parallel life that is not part of yours. Joanna Scanlan's performance as Mary is breathtaking, she carries the entire film, and she manages to convince us of the pain of loss, the discovery of betrayal, the fear of entering this parallel life, and the acceptance of reality. It's an enchanting and powerful performance. Director Aleem Khan also brings a mix of cultures (Pakistani, English, and French) which enhances the plot even more.

This is yet again one of those movies that I just don't understand the fuss about. It's about a woman who finds out her late husband has lived a double life. It's long winded and I found it to be tedious, a thin story stretched to breaking point. Joann Scanlan won a BAFTA for this and I have to ask why. OK, she cries on cue a couple of times but is this great acting? Most of the time she just mopes about until you feel like shaking her. 'Just tell her for crying out loud' I felt like screaming (no spoilers but you will know what I mean if you have watched this). It's nicely filmed but in all honesty it's a boring movie. Yes, I will be in the minority about my opinion but so be it.

QUICK REVIEW If you are after a highly thought provoking film, which has WTAF moments littered every 5 or so minutes, you will love this. It is not for people looking for an action movie. It is a slowly evolving love story (of sorts). The acting is superb. The setting is excellent. The film is a gem. Watch it on a wet Sunday afternoon OR on a dark evening when you have time on your hands and just want to enjoy a good story. Don't read anything about this. Just start watching. Trust me. LONGER REVIEW This is one of the best films I have seen in 2022. It was available on the BFI player, here in the UK (via Amazon prime subs). I signed up for a trial and this wa some of the films I watched. Joanna Scanlon is excellent in this beautiful film. She deserved her BAFTA award. The writer/director (Aleem Khan) has done a great superb job of telling this story (his debut full length feature). From the start, setting up the setting for the story, to then give interesting changes in direction throughout, this film keeps you surprised throughout with revelation after revelation. I did not expect this film to be this good. In my mind, with the poster, I was expecting some sort of Muslim based family story. You know , allowing the audience to take a peek into the lives of a different culture and religion. That's what I thought I was going to see. What I saw was a great piece of storytelling that gives the audience a sense of intelligence. It does not hand hold you and force feed you cultural norms etc. It simply unfolds the story and let's you, the viewer, figure things out. I loved that. It is such a human story. Really, to me, the best part of all was constantly giving us something different every few minutes. You think you understand something and then the film will reveal something new to change your perception. It does this from start to the very last shot. There have been many love stories done before, but I don't quite remember seeing it done this way. It is not a traditional boy meets girl story (per se). But it is definitely a love story. To me, I wholeheartedly love seeing British films. More so when they are done like this. Kudos and I look forward to seeing Mr. Khan's next output as writer/director.