Speaking on his film Husbands (1970) at the time of its release, John Cassavetes argued there’s a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. A founding father of the new generation of American independent filmmaking during the New Hollywood movement (in addition to a skilled actor in his own right), the director’s penchant for shooting off-the-cuff set the stage for generations of acolytes to follow in his footsteps. She Is Love writer-director Jamie Adams is apparently one of those faithful. Discussing the making of A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Cassavetes said artists must try many things, but above all, they must dare to fail. As it happens, Adams’ struggle to grasp the nuances of ad-libbing vs. improvising shows an unquestionable understanding of this second edict.
Not to imply that She Is Love compares to even the slightest entry in Cassavetes’s oeuvre. The film follows Patricia (Haley Bennett), a literary talent agent passing through Cornwall on an assignment. Her boyfriend back home has booked her a room in a boutique hotel, which immediately proves to be a problem: Louise (Marisa Abela), the owner, is not exactly running a tight ship. No one is available to check Patricia in, she’s passive-aggressively treated like a burden rather than a guest, and — worst of all — someone in the hotel is playing music way too loud. Patricia goes to investigate, and who does she find? Isris (Sam Riley), her ex-husband from a decade prior, who is now dating Louise.
Instead of simply leaving, as most people would do in such an uncomfortable position, Patricia chooses to stay and antagonize her hosts by being a bad lodger. She quickly drives Louise and Isris to the brink over the course of the afternoon, culminating in Patricia and Isris sitting down to share a drink together so Louise can actually get some work done. What follows is a drunken descent into the former couple’s shared past, a night of laughter and antics and tears and apologies and rehashed fights that soon drive Louise away entirely, leaving Patricia and Isris to sort out unfinished business once and for all.
Loosely structured and spontaneously propelled through its relatively short run time, She Is Love is very much an exercise in the difference between ad-lib and improvisation. Bennett and Riley are clearly just making things up as they go, with director Adams and cinematographer Jan Vrhovnik there to sweep and swoop and swirl the camera around the pair. (If anyone has ever wondered what it might look like if Emmanuel Lubezki shot a mumblecore film, She Is Love proves that they would mix like oil and water.) Adams has an interesting premise here — What if you refracted the genre-obligated meet-cute, turning it into a curse instead of a blessing? — but it is utterly squandered on a directionless central duo.
With She Is Love, Jamie Adams dares to fail. Though this certainly makes him an artist by Cassavetes’ definition, this film hardly feels like a worthwhile exercise. It’s messy and aimless, providing little reason to care about whether or not Patricia and Isris can find the closure they’ve been seeking in the decade since their divorce. Even something as simple as a brief prologue set in their lovestruck heyday could have added much-needed depth and context to these two otherwise shallow leads. Patricia and Isris spent 10 years thinking about each other, but audiences will have forgotten them in 10 minutes.
She Is Love is now playing in select theaters and available to rent on major online platforms.
