Directors often seem reluctant to attempt to show the complexities of love. Instead of delving into its many nuances, love is distilled down to a few emotional moments and a couple of intimate scenes. Consider it love lite.

Mike Mills takes love head-on. The writer/director of “Beginners” wades into the diversity of love with this often touching, often painful, story of multiple romances.

“Beginners” is the story of budding relationships (between a man and woman, man and man, man and dog) and fully mature connections, like that between a father and son. Each has its own complications, which Mills treats with deep respect.

At the heart of this layered love story is Oliver (Ewan McGregor), a talented artist who’s trying to sort out his feelings for Anna (Melanie Laurent), a beautiful woman he meets at a costume party. It’s not the typical love story where hormones are far more important than harmony. It’s a relationship that drifts from passionate to painful.

Oliver’s also dealing with his ailing father, Hal (Christopher Plummer), who after 44 years of marriage announces he’s gay.

Mills script doesn’t attempt to answer all the questions that come with love. But it is a smart look at relationships. It shows how love can bring comfort to a person facing his own mortality or how it becomes a curse when two people begin to drift apart.

The story works because of McGregor’s boyish charms. He goes from being the most interesting person at a party to someone who jets across the country for a chance at some insight about his future.

McGregor’s the perfect emotional center from which all these variations on the theme of love can radiate.

Mills’ simplistic shooting style perfectly complements the story. He doesn’t make “Beginners” look so much like a movie but creates a voyeuristic peek into these interesting lives. That sense of reality heightens all of the emotional moments.

The honesty of the performances and Mills’ filmmaking make “Beginners” a lovely tale of love.

 

Copy the Story Link