The One I Love .FILMREVIEW

THE ONE I LOVE .FILMREVIEW .1

Contains Spoilers.

"We're a mess. And I love that about us, I dont want to be perfect, I want to be us."  

Marriage on the brink of divorce has got to be top 10 topic in the history of cinema. It is a circumtances that is so spesific yet at face value is something that a lot of people relates to. The One I Love by Charlie Mcdowell is a fresh take on the topic, incoporating Science-Fiction element, while also covering a common fear within the concept of marriage itself. Let's talk about this film. 

Marriage, like many things in life, doesnt have one single definitive route. The future wont guarantee the fate of your marriage anything, yet i found it endearing that one of the process involved both individuals to say vows. To make promises that is supposed to last forever. To love each other until the inevitable end eventually catches up. Speaking of love, i think it is one of human greatest stregth and also one of human greatest flaw. Because love isnt meant to stay in one place, it is meant to grow over time.

That's why it felt like Marriage is the ultimate test of love. You dont just marry the very person infront of you right now, but the many versions of them that will eventually come. But not all marriage last forever, the concept itself is very flawed, ome that comes with many obstacles. Sometimes, the reason behind why people fell apart is because of redundacy, in a sense where things just get colder between the two, because both people grown up, maybe due to life circumtances. So you started to wish for your significant other to be different, just slightly, and maybe harmless changes. You wish they would show affections more, maybe they'd cook breakfast or say the things that are just right.

Those are the very topic that The One I Love brought to the table (atleast to my
interpretation). When you are met with a somewhat perfect version of your significant one, filled with everything that you ever desired, would you take the chance of building a life with them or would you stay with the one you already have a life with. That's the question this film propose, incoporated with a science fiction element, it literalized the fear. 

Told through couple Ethan and Sophie, Played by Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, both serves as opposite ends to the idea.  While Ethan wanted aunthenticity, Sophie chases happiness. Ethan is terrified by the idea while Sophie embraces it. And the best part is, none of them are in the right. If you see the story from Ethan point of view, it may seem that what he's doing is more logical because he doesnt trust his other version. Although what he's after is authenticity, i cant help but feel that he's also driven by jealousy upon seeing his wife fell in love with his other version. Perhaps, he's also scared of the possibilty of living a dishonest life by loving someone that isnt his wife, the one she already spend times with prior to the story. 

But here's the thing, from Sophie's point of view, Ethan is no less of a selfish person. Because we would later found out that Ethan himself cheated on Sophie prior to the story. What i think the main focus with Sophie, is the fact that this is her chance to bring back the sparks in her love life, the excitement and such, because of the other version of Ethan. This Ethan that she met, is an embodiment of everything that couldve been. So she embraces it, drawing mirror to what Ethan was doing prior to the story. Because what is authenticity if there is no guarantee that things will change? When certainty is already presented right before your eyes.

The ending of this film cant be more devastating. I think you have to give this film a chance, watch it, it's brilliant and fresh. Let me know what you guys think!

This review is also available in my Letterboxd page!

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