Review: Untogether

A drama about a group of people adrift and looking for love, Untogether marks the directorial debut of novelist Emma Forrest. Possessed of a brittle charm and assured dialogue, the film benefits enormously from the efforts of its winning cast.

Real-life sisters Jemima and Lola Kirke star as Andrea and Tara, daughters of a deceased musician who are each navigating their own personal issues in the midst of increasingly complicated romantic relationships. Andrea is one year into her sobriety and attempting to write a follow-up to the novel that brought her acclaim and resulted in her addiction. She's taken up with Nick (Jamie Dornan), a doctor currently in the public eye for writing a memoir recounting a doomed romance whilst doing volunteer work in the Middle East. Though he tells her he's emotionally unavailable and not ready to be in a relationship - he did just split up with his girlfriend the day before, after all - the two embark on an affair that often plays like the Red Shoe Diaries version of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Tara, meanwhile, is becoming restless with her boyfriend Martin (Ben Mendelsohn, formerly married to Forrest), a middle-aged musician hoping to spark a comeback. Cultivating her curiosity about her Jewish roots, she finds herself drawn to an activist rabbi (Billy Crystal) and his progressive teachings. Jennifer Grey appears as the rabbi's wife and utilises her brief screen time rather well - the scene in which she twigs that there's more to Tara's admiration than meets the eye is especially effective. Mendelsohn, too, takes a role that could have been a caricature and shapes Martin into a figure that's endearing, tragic and pathetic.

The Kirke Sisters, however, are the main event and rightly so. Though Lola has had the greater visibility and plaudits due to her roles in films such as Gone Girl and Mistress America and the television series, Mozart in the Jungle, Untogether proves that Jemima, primarily known for Lena Dunham's Girls, is not one to be underestimated. There's a bruised voluptuousness to her that echoes Marilyn Monroe, yet an acidity, a certain vinegariness that speaks to an almost noir toughness. The film doesn't always live up to its potential, but its strengths outnumber its weaknesses.

Untogether

Directed by: Emma Forrest

Written by: Emma Forrest

Starring: Jemima Kirke, Lola Kirke, Jamie Dornan, Ben Mendelsohn, Billy Crystal, Jennifer Grey, Scott Caan, Alice Eve