Love of Your Life is Effective, but Nothing Groundbreaking
Bring it back
4/5 stars
Losing a loved one has been a topic in fiction since storytelling has existed. The intense grief and pain we feel when someone we love dies will always be a source of high drama. In a sense, people grieve twice – once for the person they loved, and again for the life they had with that person, which doesn't exist anymore. This theme is at the forefront of Rachel Morrison's film Love of Your Life. It is familiar territory, to be sure, but it is still a powerful emotional journey highlighted by some heartbreaking performances.
Maya (Margaret Qualley) is a young nurse whose chance encounter with a charming young man named Charlie (Gabriel Basso) quickly turns into a romance. A year later, they are married and seem to have found their happily ever after, until the COVID-19 pandemic leads to Charlie's unexpected death. Torn apart by grief and guilt, Maya leaves her family and friends without warning to start an aimless existence in Europe. However, the people she encounters reintroduce her to the joys of love and life.
Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and then having a short theatrical run before ending up on streaming, the film is an old-school kind of mature, romantic drama that used to be in theaters consistently, but is now increasingly rare. Qualley's deeply felt performance anchors this story of love and loss, and the supporting characters all do their part to drive those themes home. Love and life are fleeting things, but ultimately, that is what makes them so precious. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but stories like this are often the best way to process the uncertainty of life. Love of Your Life is currently available on Prime Video.
Directed by Rachel Morrison // Written by Julia Cox // Starring Margaret Qualley, Gabriel Basso, Aaron Pierre, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tamara Lawrance, Corey Johnson, Michael Shelford, Adam Woodward, Vas Constanti, and Catherine Keener // Amazon MGM Studios // 109 minutes // Rated R
