The Face of Love is the story of one woman’s attempt to cope with loss under some rather bizarre circumstances. Annette Bening and Ed Harris star in this uncomfortable drama about grief, delusion and dating in your 50s.

Annette Bening plays Nikki, a woman struggling to reassemble her life after losing her husband in a tragic drowning accident while on vacation. Five years after his death she has not moved on. Still haunted by his memory she avoids all activities they used to do together, abandoning many loved pastimes. Finally one day after encouragement from her daughter she decides to visit their favorite art gallery. During this fateful visit she has a shocking encounter with a man who is the exact likeness of her late husband. The likeness is so close she initially thinks she imagined him. Overcome, she follows the stranger as he leaves the gallery until losing him in traffic. Obsessed with the prospect of seeing him again Nikki returns to the gallery every day in hopes of catching another glimpse of this mystery man. Eventually he does return an and Nikki is able to gather enough information to plan a meeting.

What begins as curiosity soon buds into a romance. We watch as Nikki tries to negotiate this new relationship, briefly struggling to keep Tom’s identity separate from her husband’s before succumbing to her desire to recreate experiences from her marriage. This implausible story is well acted but struggles to be convincing. Despite the creative premises of the film, the plot is extremely predictable, and the characters are difficult to empathize with. Ed Harris does an excellent job playing both the role of the deceased husband and the stranger Tom. The interesting question is posed about the value loving someone because they remind you of someone else – walking in a dead man’s shoes.

The Look of Love was a TIFF13 selection and brought Annette Bening and director Arie Posin to the Red Carpet in Toronto. The movie was greeted by laughter, from the audience who decided it was a comedy. This was a very unexpected reaction for the filmmakers who thought the movies was a serious drama. Overall, The Face of Love is not a masterpiece but may play best to an audience dealing with the anguish of loosing a deeply loved partner and having to rebuild their life.

Astrid Handling