Love, ageing and losing one’s home underpin this character focused film written by Mauricio Zacharias and Ira Sachs who also directs.
The two main protagonists are gay but their trials resonate with all who have been in love.
The score is laden with Chopin’s works and provides the drifting rhythm of the story.
George (Alfred Molina) is a music teacher who comments vigorously on the playing of Chopin by one of his students. The grace of the music is personified by the nearly 40 year commitment of Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) who decide to tie the knot with an idyllic wedding ceremony that takes place in lower Manhattan.
Shortly after this euphoric occasion George ends up losing his job as a music teacher in a conservative Catholic school. The couple have to sell their apartment and find themselves having to temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home.
The film celebrates the constancy of the tender tolerant companionship of the two men as they face the challenges of living apart.
The temporary nature of their separate accommodation – one with his nephew, wife and adolescent son, the other with two gay partying policemen, is barely coped with by the two men and by their hosts.
Ben, in particular, finds it hard to continue his artwork within his new shared residence.
The hosts themselves are experiencing challenges-including marital tensions, conflicts concerning parenting, feelings of adolescent isolation and inappropriate befriending, and the difficulties of working from home when it is being occupied by yet another person.
Throughout the film the two protagonists are portrayed with compassion and understatement.
The other characters have their lives put under scrutiny. There is always the suggestion of hidden layers of issues and answers which could be revealed if the ‘lodger’ situation were to be extended. The multi-generational issues include that of Kate’s (Marisa Tomei) and Elliot’s (Darren Burrows) work obsession; their son Joey’s (Charlie Tahan) older school friend Vlad (Eric Tabach) and their joint strange interest in French literature.
The film features strong performances all round with the wonderful Alfred Molina showing the greatest range of emotion .
The cinematographer, Christos Voudouris, commits to the restraint of the film with its gentle, natural portrayal of the imperfect characters and the dappled backdrop of New York.
Dispelling some queries about Joey’s sexuality after sharing a room with his great uncle Ben, the final scene sees Joey and his girlfriend skateboarding towards flooding bright light. There is an optimistic note to the end of this gentle and profound film.