Lorelei A Beautiful Romance About Broken Lives

Lorelei

Starring  Pablo Schreiber, Jena Malone

Written  &  Directed  by  Sabrina Doyle

Rating: ***

Lorelei Movie Review: Apart from a weirdly  metaphysical  ending which had me scratching my hand in what-was-that bewilderment, Lorelei is a  tender gentle  hardhitting and  searing drama  about two  fractured lives  trying desperately to come together  again, if not as Man and Wife then at laest as  a compatible  couple.

It’s q  rare film that shows a relationship after it has officially ended.  Most romances are situated in   that cosy area  inhabited by people in love while they are in love.The terrible aftermath is  seldom explored . In Lorelei when  Wayland return to his hometown after serving time, he is uncertain of   the future. That uncertainty we soon realize, is what  makes this  film stand out.

When Wayland runs  into  Dolores, old memories are re-kindled , wounds that never healed are re-opened.

“We had a  life together and then  you just went away,” Dolores says without  a trace of accusation in her  voice.So all right,  shit happens in life. The trick is to pick up the broken pieces and mend the bridges.

 Easier said than done. Dolores is  now  the  mother of three demanding children.The  eldest , a daughter,is that age when teenagers are  into drugs and boys.Trouble is, Mom too is trapped  there. Dolores has bills to pay and duties to  fulfil which she isn’t quite up to.

Wayland fits the  bill. The kids begin to lean on him.Inept as she is,the mother in Dolores resents and revolts at Wayland’s  place in her children’s life.

Lorelei, from the outside, seems  like  a cliché-riddled  film about a rekindled romance. But underneath the  rites  of  rectifying the wrong, this is a  film with deep undercurrents  of empathy and compassion. The drama works so  well because writer-director  Sabrina Doyle  understands her protagonists better than they understand one  another.

The two  actors  Pablo Schreiber  and  Jena Malone,playing people  rediscovering one  another are so pitch-perfect, they seem to inhabit characters that were written for them alone. Neither  Wayland nor Dolores  is  anywhere close to being the  ideal partner that they crave to find.  What makes them so  irresistible  is their flaws. Fractured and  damaged  this  couple is determined  to  wade through the  heartbreaks  of life without forsaking their dreams, at least some  of them.

 The  supporting cast is also  strong on conviction. The camera(Stephen Paar)  captures the ethos  of  a small town in Oregon that has long  abandoned the American Dream. But dammit, there are shreds of desire still in there waiting to come out.It can’t be helped.