FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Two Lovers [DVD] [2009]

Two Lovers [DVD] [2009]
enlarge	Director: James Gray Actors: Bob Ari, Moni Moshonov, Vinessa Shaw, Julie Budd, Gwyneth Paltrow Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£15.99~~ Buy New: £6.45 as of 21/11/2009 07:08 GMT details You Save: £9.54 (60%) New (13) Used (3) from £6.45 Seller: stanzgames Rating: 4 reviews Sales Rank: 7117 Format: PAL Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 106 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5060052417831 ASIN: B002BC9Y2U Theatrical Release Date: 2009 Release Date: August 10, 2009 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: Great performance from Joaquin Phoenix makes for discomforting viewing August 31, 2009 cathy earnshaw (Berlin, Germany) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful Two Lovers (what a banal title by the way) is essentially about a love triangle in which both females do not know of their "rival". So the film concentrates on Leonard's relationship with these two women and his emotional negotiation of the two poles of reality that they represent. There's been criticism that women such as the glamorous Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the kindhearted homebody Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) would not fall for a manic depressive like Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) who is apparently stuck in a state of arrested development, still living at home with his conservative Jewish parents. But that's rubbish: nowhere is the moth-to-the-flame or lamb-to-the-slaughter dynamic stronger than in the field of love. Both men and women - often irrespective of upbringing, age, intelligence, and background, but not emotional stability - can crash into the arms of people who seem and perhaps are wholly inappropriate. Not just a few tears but months and years can be wasted on dysfunctional attempts for the relationship to fulfil an ideal, a projection or a longing that it simply cannot fulfil. br / br /And so it is with Leonard: Thanks to Phoenix's brilliantly instinctual portrayal, you really feel for Leonard when he fidgets with shame and insecurity as he's trying to impress and get close to Michelle. Her long glossy blonde locks, her partying sensibility, her candid encouragement of his creative pursuits and her own mysterious and exclusive work (Leonard watches longingly as she steps into a black, chauffeur-driven Mercedes): Michelle is a woman from another world, who represents escapism or even freedom for Leonard from his dreary job in the family business, the claustrophobia of living with his parents and the uncomfortable recognition of his own unfulfilled potential. Sandra offers him the opposite: comfort, security, reliability and a steady, stable love - all values that keep him inside the family dynamic in which he has grown up. Leonard's journey is an internal one: What are his values? What and who does he love? And to what extent is he prepared for a conflict to arise between his love for (or rather projection on) a woman and his role and feelings of responsibility within his family? In tune with his skittish, unsettled personality and psychological problems, Leonard experiences these questions on a deep, emotional level. br / br /Ultimately, this very well acted and directed film is not about love itself, but rather psychological projection and the role our environment plays in choosing the ones we love - or the ones with whom we choose to settle down. If there are faults, I would say that they are small ones: br / - Michelle's father, who is never seen, is barely mentioned again after Leonard meets Michelle in the hallway, which seems dramatically unconvincing. It's a little too obvious that her father is used as a catalyst/dramatic device for her and Leonard to meet in the first place. br / - It feels a tiny bit unlikely that Leonard would be the son of such parents, although I think this may have to do with Phoenix being so famous that it takes an extra dose of imagination on the viewer's part to wrench him from his position in celebrity culture and re-position him in this role as son in this family environment (not a fault of his acting). br / - James Gray speaks on the director's commentary about trying to reach a "poetic truth" by using thunder and wind as pathetic fallacy. These are stock tropes for conveying the idea of conflict and disruption (cf. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights); it would have been interesting to explore new ways of demonstrating something unsettling without the usual sudden arrival of poor weather. br / - I'd say Gray overdoes the glove symbolism at the end. br / br /But don't let that put you off: This is compelling stuff, especially from Phoenix. br /(4.5 stars) br / br /Also recommended br /* The Beautiful Person (directed by Christophe Honoré and starring Louis Garrel) br /* Anna M. (directed by Michel Spinosa and starring Isabelle Carre) br /* Gisela (directed by Isabelle Stever and starring Carlo Ljubek) Real People, Not Cartoons June 5, 2009 Jazzman (Germany) 4 out of 5 found this review helpful This is a film about normal, troubled people facing real problems and choices. For those whose minds have been rotted by 2D stories, characters and special effects, please do yourselves a favor and stay away. But if you appreciate great acting, literate themes and characterizations, and aren't afraid of a little ambiguity and doubt, then buy one of the best films of the decade when it's released on DVD. Kudos to co-writers James Gray and Ric Menello! A little self indulgent August 19, 2009 Peter Willis (Leeds, UK) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful As a character piece Two Lovers works well- the portraits of the three central figures, lead admittedly well by Phoenix as Leonard, are impeccably drawn, and the dynamic between the torn man and his two choices, one endorsed by his parents the other the complete opposite is the best part of the film. To his credit, Phoenix plays the tortured soul well- he has one of those faces that looks pathetic and vulnerable even when he is playing a tyrant (hence his success as Gladiator's tortured nemesis and as tortured Johnny Cash). From his first suicidal scene, Leonard's torment is captured well enough to be utterly believable and compelling, largely thanks to the way James Gray changes the pallet of the scene to reflect his main character's mood, but I'm with Mike Edwards when he says his psychological condition, though presented as morbid depression (hence the watery opening), is little more than bi-polarism (which is not to undermine the importance of that condition). br / br /While the film wants us to believe Leonard's psychological torment, the context plays against the intention- Leonard's struggle is supposed to be internal and mental (why else would we be immediately confronted with the image of aborted suicide?), but the central premise of the film- the dilemma between the angel on one shoulder (Sandra) and the devil on the other (Michelle) undermines it somewhat. This is a film about a fork in the road, about the choice between a bad but liberating relationship or a wholesome, but probably stifling one, and Leonard's own psychological condition becomes an afterthought in the shadow of his romantic entanglement. If the film wanted to make a comment about psychological turmoil it may well have been better served to do it without the love triangle situation that shifts focus away. br / br /The one problem i had with the central triumverate of characters was believing Gwyneth Paltrow as the anti-heroine: the bad choice of the two lovers. To be confronted with Paltrow playing a self-destructive, drug addled, emotional mess within the greater context of her career to date is a rather jarring experience. Though it is often the most atypical roles that sparkle in an actor's career, I found it uncomfortable having to wrestle the wholesome image of Paltrow as the Immaculate Innocent figure she usually plays out of my mind. Had she been the parentally-endorsed choice, Sandra, I may well have accepted it seamlessly, but as it is, seeing her in this new guise left a wierd and not particularly pleasant aftertaste. br / br /But this film, like the post-release hype, is about one man alone. I've been harsh when it comes to Joaquin Phoenix in the past, but even I have to admit he plays his part in Two Lovers better than I could imagine anyone else could, serving up a believable portrait of a tortured man caught in a tumultuous romantic situation. He is the embodiment of James Gray's favoured emotionally charged pallet- I said Gray manipulates the pallet of his shots to reflect the emotional state of his leading character, perhaps it is more appropriate to include Phoenix as a facet of that pallet, so integral is he to the creation of an emotional framework for his scenes. As with We Own The Night (one of Phoenix's better performances in my opinion) Gray knows exactly how and when to use Phoenix's hyper-charged vulnerability to best effect, and while the actor attempts to make himself as impenetrably, destructively alienated as possible with his beardy stunt, Gray manages the seemingly impossible in painting his character's condition in such a way that we all believe. br / br /Originally published by Simon Gallagher at Obsessed With Film. Interminable self-indulgent August 26, 2009 emma_scriptwriter (West Sussex, UK) 1 out of 3 found this review helpful The previous reviews are good for what this movie is actually about but if you want to know whether or not to watch or buy this film then my title above sums it up. I love Joachim Phoenix and all of the other actors are great too but the story is so tedious and it's hard to care for any of the characters. If you want a good but kooky love story then I'd opt for 'Lars and the Real Girl' for and interesting story, skewed, great characters and the lovability factor. Two Lovers is just a bit pretentious and makes Phoenix and Paltrow look a bit second rate... which they're not.

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