UNTOGETHER

US, 2018, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jamie Dornan, Lola Kirke, Jemima Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Billy Crystal, Jennifer Grey, Scott Caan, Alice Eve.
Directed by Emma Forrest.

As the title of the film might indicate, this is a film of tangled relationships. It was written and directed by Emma Forrest and stars her former husband, Ben Mendelssohn.

The film focuses on two sisters (played by real-life sisters Jemima and Lola Kirke). One is a talented young writer who has suffered alcohol addiction. She is in a relationship with another writer, drawing on his military experiences, played by Jamie Dornan. Meanwhile, her sister is in an up-and-down relationship with an older man, Mendelsohn.

There is further complication when she goes to a synagogue, is charmed by the Rabbi (Billy Crystal) and targets him.

Response to the film will depend on audience sympathy with the two sisters, their tangled relationships – but the presence of Billy Crystal certainly helps the film.

1. The title? The irony? The two central couples? The Rabbi and his family? The director and her relationship with Ben Mendelsohn, marriage and divorce?

2. The Los Angeles settings, homes, hills and roads, synagogue, clubs? The musical score?

3. The central focus on Nick and Andrea, the initial one night stand, sexual bonding, phone calls and texting, the continued seeing each other? Love, dependence? Andrea and her writing, successful publication? Not being able to write during the summer? Sharing with Tara, interactions with Mark? Recovering alcoholic? At a young age? Her influence on those about her?

4. Nick, the doctor, war service, his memoir, successful? The discussions with his agent, her being sharp? The discovery of the truth, his fiction? The public humiliation? Andrea and her more favourable reaction, the truth of his writing? Nick at work, wanting to see Andrea again, the many visits? Sexual? His going into rehabilitation, unable to say he was alcoholic? His self-denunciation? His reading Andrea’s work, accepting her? The coming back together? The final credits and their long walk together down the mountainside?

5. Tara and Mark? Age difference? Mark, art, painting signs, the background of his music? Tara, her work in massage? The bond between the two? On and off, Mark and his attempts to reconcile? Tara and the massage for the Rabbi, the invitation to the synagogue, her going, her attraction to him in his manner? Other visits? The approach, the Rabbi putting her off? Discussions with her sister? Reconciling with Mark or not?

6. Mark, the Australian, in California, his age, the band, artwork, erratic moods, the relationship with Tara, his dependence on her, attempted reconciliation? Andrea’s intervention? The music, the concert?

7. The Rabbi, the massage as a gift, the discussions with Tara, inviting her to the synagogue, his service, the music and exuberance, his wife, his daughter, the social courses, Syrian refugees, his explanations about his friend, going to the south, segregation, Martin Luther King? People not turning up for the function for the Syrians?

8. The publicist, businesslike, her attitude towards Nick, rebuking him?

9. A slice of Californian life?