Review: The History of Love
"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." So begins the film adaptation of Nicole Krauss' acclaimed 2005 novel, The History of Love.
The opening words hint at a fairytale romance between Leo Gurski (Mark Rendall) and Alma Mereminski (Gemma Arterton) and, whilst their tragic love story underpins the overall narrative, it's mostly shunted aside for two less interesting parallel storylines, that of the older Leo (Derek Jacobi), now a retired locksmith living in New York City's Chinatown, and Alma (Sophie Nélisse, a teenager named after a character known as the "most loved woman in the world" in her parents' favourite novel, The History of Love.
Alma lives with her widowed mother Charlotte (Torri Higginson) and younger brother Bird (William Ainscough), who believes himself to be one of God's holy people. Though Alma hopes for the type of unconditional love that Leo shared with his Alma, she can't quite believe that such a love exists. Her uncertainty seems to stem from the death of her father who died from cancer, and so she rebuffs the romantic overtures of Misha (Alex Ozerov) despite the fact that she is attracted to him. Meanwhile, her mother receives a mysterious offer from a man named Jacob Marcus to translate The History of Love from Spanish to English in return for $100,000. Alma, pretending to be her mother, communicates with Marcus, proving herself a storyteller like Leo as she changes her mother's words into something more romantic.
In the meantime, the elderly Leo, when not having kvetching sessions with his longtime friend Bruno (Elliott Gould), keeps checking to see if a novel named The History of Love has been published but his local bookseller insists no such work exists. Yet it does, for Leo, inspired and instructed by Alma, had written the book and entrusted it to his childhood friend Zvi before he went off to war, during which time he lost contact with Alma, who then feared him dead.
Between the multiple narrative strands and complex themes, there's too much competing for one's attention. Director Radu Mihaileanu, who also adapted Krauss' novel with Marcia Romano, does nothing to clarify the convolutions. In fact, there's a strong sense that the material was beyond his control. There are serious tonality issues that mar the film, whether it be the melodramatics of Leo and Alma's scenes or any moment involving the teenaged Alma, which border on the seriously pretentious. How the luminous Arterton manages to rise above the material she's given is a mystery, but one is grateful for such small favours.
The History of Love
Directed by: Radu Mihaileanu
Written by: Radu Mihaileanu, Marcia Romano; based on the novel by Nicole Krauss
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Derek Jacobi, Elliott Gould, Torri Higginson, Sophie Nélisse, Mark Rendall
