Are there second chances in romance?
Arie Posen’s beautifully-crafted film, The Face of Love, starring Annette Bening and Ed Harris, delves into that complex and tantalizing question with the persistence and ardour of a long-denied lover.
Its premise seems simple-minded at first glance. Nikki (Bening), an attractive widow in her mid-50s still grieving over the loss of her husband, is startled and delighted when she catches sight of a man who looks exactly like him. Invigorated by her discovery, she pursues him. A little hokey? Perhaps. But as the film gathers steam, enveloping a viewer in its warm embrace, the theme becomes entirely plausible.
The Face of Love, which opens on April 18 in Toronto, begins with a flashback of a husband presenting his wife with an exquisite pearl necklace on their 30th anniversary. The couple, Nikki and Garrett, are deeply in love. As Nikki savours this tender moment, she remembers finding him dead on the beach, a victim of drowning.
The scene shifts to a posh neighbourhood in Los Angeles, where she lives in splendid isolation in an elegant cottage designed by Garrett, an architect. Still devastated by his untimely passing, she tosses his clothes into cardboard boxes, to be picked up by a charitable organization.
Five years later, Nikki, now a house stager, appears rather matronly. She claims she never looks back, but in fact, she’s trapped in the past, ensnared in a state of mourning. Bening, at once pensive and perky, portrays Nikki with effortless ease.
One day, while visiting an art museum, her heart skips a beat when she sees a middle-aged man in a floppy hat who bears an uncanny resemblance to Garrett. Utterly transfixed, she tells her sad-sack neighbour, Roger (Robin Williams), a widower, that she feels alive again.
By chance, the alluring stranger turns up once more, and this time she pulls out all the stops to meet him. Tom (Harris), her husband’s perfect double, is an art instructor at a local college, and is single as well. Using her feminine charms, she convinces Tom to give her painting lessons. He falls for Nikki and asks her out on a date.
There is a first kiss and then physical intimacy, scenes that Posen handles with tact and sensitivity. Nikki hasn’t told Tom the whole truth about her obsession with him, but says, “Everything is possible now.” Besotted, Tom says she’s his dream woman.
Nikki’s refusal to “share” Tom with her friends arouses Tom’s curiosity and suspicion. But Nikki holds steadfast to her secret, even after Summer (Jess Weixler), her gorgeous daughter, experiences an emotional meltdown after accidentally meeting Tom. As for Tom, he’s a keeper of secrets, too. Harris, in stellar fashion, portrays Tom as a leathery hunk with a soulful bent.
By this point, viewers will wonder whether Nikki will ever be totally frank with Tom. They will need a little more patience to find out. The truth cannot be suppressed forever.
http://youtu.be/NOibi2XLOUo