Director: Charlie McDowell
By Alex Watson
Making a marriage work takes tremendous effort from both parties and some times things can go array! We all know how tragic the fallout from this can be (look any number of high profile divorces in the tabloids) but we always hope that any couple can get back on track and save things. This week, debut director, Charlie McDowell brings us a stirring and original look at the real difficulties faced from a simple weekend retreat. His movie, The One I Love has been a favourite around the festival circuit recently, but will it offer anything new to your typical getaway movie?
Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elizabeth Moss) are a couple who are currently on the verge of separating due to a previous affair that has caused them to lose connection with each other. Their therapist (Ted Danson) suggests they take the weekend away to a retreat house in the California countryside. Once they arrive there, the animosity begins to ease gradually. But the couple soon discovers that there is a mystifying surprise awaiting them inside the guest house!
The One I Love is a very interesting and self assured debut from Charlie McDowall (son of Malcolm) that very confidently deals with the problems of every day people. The cinematography from Doug Emmett casts a much needed dark shadow upon the wondrous landscape which in turn adds to the slowly building tension. Smartly though the movie turns from being a straight forward drama about relationships, to having a sci-fi/ horror feel about it early on as it becomes apparent that the house they are staying is not the idyllic paradise it appears to be!
As characters, Ethan and Sophie are a pair who have become a shred of their former fun loving selves and throughout McDowall's picture we can feel their boredom with life and in many sense, with each other. The retreat is supposed to serve as a recharging device for their relationship, and initially the bond begins to strengthen. There is no crash course from any counselor in relationship building activities, they are alone with only each other and in a sense have to earn back the lost love. But after a night where events don't turn out to be the way either remembers it, things end up going the other way and the suspicions, doubts and old wounds continually rack up!
But the movie benefits most of all from a smart twist early in proceedings that creates a wonderfully suspenseful feel to the movie. Before you watch this film, stay clear of any spoilers because it makes the big reveal all the more worthwhile! When it hits though, the feel of the movie shifts considerably and throughout the second half of The One I Love we are second guessing every event and are left wondering just what kind of house is it that the couple are staying in? Every move they make, you sense the couple is being watched! Just who by remains a scary prospect to consider.
Elizabeth Moss and Mark Duplass do an excellent job of holding the movie together at the core and give a very realistic and heartbreaking portrayal of a couple who are falling apart at the seams. They are not outgoing or exceptional people, just a regular couple trying to get by but find themselves hindered at each turn. The chemistry between Duplass and Moss is the very thing that brings the movie alive and there is a terrific sense of happiness mixed with a heavy cloud of sadness about the way things have transpired.
The One I Love is an experience very much worth having and will by far have one of 2014 most original and refreshing twists to it. But more than that, it will make you think hard about any relationship that went wrong previous and maybe just give you a path to avoid the same mistakes in future! McDowall could well be a talent to watch and Closer to the Edge will keep a close eye on this one!
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