THE ONE I LOVE

US, 2014, 91 minutes, Colour.
Mark Duplass, Elizabeth Moss, Ted Danson.
Directed by Charlie Mc Carthy.

The One I Love is a small, independent film, produced by the Duplass Brothers, starring Mark Duplass who has moved into acting in a wide variety of films. He is Ethan. As Sophie, his co-star is Elizabeth Moss, who appeared in the television series Mad Men and in Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake.

As the film progresses, older audiences might well be wondering about it, where it is going and whether they are identifying with the characters and the situations or not. They might have in the past, but this is a story for young marrieds, especially in their 20s or, perhaps, in their 30s. Older audiences might be remembering their past but this story, with its plot of self-discovery and issues of love and breakdown of love and marriage, and finding it rather uninteresting, even a bit tedious or boring.

The film has a voice-over about how the couple met, chased from a swimming pool by an angry owner, and their attempt to recreate this atmosphere on the first anniversary by going back to the pool. But it soon emerges that the love and the marriage are becoming more and more tentative. Wisely they go to a counsellor. He is played by Ted Danson who is, in fact, the stepfather of the director, Charlie McCarthy?, whose mother is Danson’s wife, Mary Steenburgen. The director’s father is Malcolm Mc Dowell. Mary Steenburgen contributed to the lyrics for one of the songs and she and Ted Danson receive gratitude in the final credits.

The counsellor urges the couple to go to a country retreat where, hopefully, they will rediscover their love. This is the important part of the review because there is an unexpected twist and should not be revealed. What one might say is that it is something of a Sliding Doors experience, though wholly in the present. This makes demands on the acting talent of the central couple. Adult audiences, younger, will probably find the plot twist fascinating, challenging them to see how they identify with Ethan and Sophie and how they behave in the changing situation.

Judging from the comments of the adult, younger, audiences emerging from the film, they found it was open “great” so there is an audience for the film who will appreciate characters and situations. For audiences over 40, it could be something of déjà vu, but it also could be something that they realise of interest and appreciation to others, but not themselves.

1. An independent film, not a studio film? Small budget, the cast, the settings? The offbeat plot? Not with Hollywood expectations?

2. The opening, the swimming pools? With the counsellor? Going into the countryside, the resort, the house, the guesthouse, interiors and exteriors? The musical score?

3. The cast, the demands made on them, the real characters, their copies? How well did they delineate them?

4. The memories about the meeting, being chased from the pool? The anniversary and going again to the pool? The passing of time, tensions in the marriage? Their going to the counsellor, their explanation of themselves, their difficulties, clashes?

5. The counsellor, his listening, the notes on the piano and disharmony, his advice, sending them to the resort?

6. The decision to go, the hopes for the marriage? Arrival, settling in, the house itself, the rooms, the surroundings? The guesthouse and its interiors?

7. Ethan and Sophie, the characters, compatibility, love, falling out of love, rediscovering?

8. Sophie and her discovering the copy of Ethan, his exercising, her response, comparisons with the real Ethan? The copy, his athleticism, not wearing
glasses, handsome?

9. Ethan and his discovering the copy of Sophie? his retreat?

10. Their talking together, puzzling as to what is happening? The real Ethan and his not really being attracted to the Sophie copy? Little interaction? The contrast with the real Sophie, the attraction to the copy, going to the guesthouse?

11. The real Ethan, saying he was getting groceries, going to the guesthouse, the real Sophie coming, the sexual encounter? She thinking it was with the copy? His revealing the truth?

12. The meal with the four, how different, glasses, different hair styles? The discussions? The nature of the resort, to leaving, to staying? The process continuing?

13. The confrontation, the fight, the copy trying to get out of the resort and the barrier? The range of discussions? The two Sophie’s and the conversations? The two Ethans in the fight?

14. The two Sophies dressed in the same way, the look? The decision to leave, getting in the car?

15. At home, the sexual encounter, the order for breakfast – and the real Ethan realising he had left with the copy?

16. What future for each of the four characters?