Romantic dramas come in a variety of flavors, and this one can be filed under Attractive People in a Swooningly Gorgeous Setting.
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| During a day trip to a colorful town bustling with activity, Katherine (Laura Dern) and Owen (Liam Hemsworth) discover that they genuinely enjoy each other's company ... which comes as a surprise to both. |
Her notion here is that travel can be transformative: that journeying thousands of miles from the (perhaps stale) familiarity of home, can help people see themselves in a fresh light.
Celebrated author Katherine Loewe (Laura Dern) — stuck on her next book, in part because of relationship strife — abruptly decamps to an upscale literary retreat at a lavish estate in Marrakesh. (Given that she’s hoping for quiet solitude, I’d argue that being surrounded by half a dozen gregarious writers is an odd choice at best ... but we gotta roll with it.)
Convivial host Fatema Benzakour (Rachida Brakni) also has invited first-time New York-based author Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers), whose beach-read hit the best-seller lists and resulted in courtship offers from numerous publishers. She arrives with boyfriend Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth); he’s a high-rolling financial “fixer” who matches property-owning clients with corporations that wish to develop the land.
Although present to support Lily, Owen must take conference calls at odd hours of the day and night, due to the five-hour time difference. He and Lily obviously are a mismatched pair; the relationship likely worked while she was struggling to break through, but things are different now ... particularly because she quickly becomes intoxicated by the degree to which she’s fêted by Fatema and the other attendees.
Owen therefore feels increasingly isolated: an obvious outsider in a circle with which he’s wholly unfamiliar. Katherine can’t help noticing; she has a seasoned author’s eye for body language and emotional awkwardness. But she has her own battle to fight, and likely wouldn’t have given Owen much more thought ... until, entirely by accident, he winds up joining her on a bumpy road trip and a day of sightseeing in the Northern African hinterlands.
Because they’re both outsiders — at the retreat, and also amid this unfamiliar culture — they bond as casual friends.
While he can’t begin to match the subtle nuances of Dern’s acting chops, Hemsworth persuasively conveys Owen’s fish-out-of-water discomfort, although he tries to conceal it when in Lily’s presence. Hemsworth also radiates smoothly natural charm — just like his brother Chris — and has a jovial smile that could make women swoon at 30 paces.
Over the course of this one day out, Katherine’s expression changes; she pays more attention to Owen, glancing at him thoughtfully, contemplatively. Given that she’s nurturing the wounds of a failed relationship, and acutely aware that women “of her age” are long past being noticed by somebody like Owen, Dern’s musing half-smile reflects nothing more than a possible flight of fancy.
Besides which, she’s knows that Owen is spoken for.
But the dynamic shifts, back at the retreat one evening, when Owen allows Lily to drag him into a game of literary charades ... for which he’s embarrassingly ill-equipped. Our opinion of Lily abruptly shifts; although she’s certainly entitled to this moment of celebrity — Owen even says as much — that doesn’t excuse this act of deliberate cruelty.
Katherine, also present, silently perceives this transgression, and its impact on Owen. Dern’s aura shifts, as Katherine allows herself to look ... interested.
What follows plays out leisurely and elegantly. Katherine and Owen spend more time together, their conversations becoming more personal and revealing. Grant’s dialogue isn’t flirty banter; this isn’t a cute rom-com, but a sensitively handled depiction of two well-sculpted characters who recognize, in each other, that “making the most of circumstances” is a far cry from happiness.
Dern and Hemsworth definitely sell it ... and although the age difference is acknowledged, it doesn’t become an impediment.
Lily scarcely notices, fully absorbed by this heady atmosphere and its inhabitants, whom she naïvely believes have become her new besties. The bubbly delight that Silvers displayed earlier, along with what felt like genuine consideration for her boyfriend, morphs into something less admirable.
The retreat’s other participants are a colorful bunch, starting with Shosha Goren’s archly condescending Nobel Prize winner, Ada Dohan; she has a caustic comment for every occasion. Personable Libyan memoir writer Rafih Abdo (Younès Boucif) quickly catches Lily’s eye. Ugo Jaconelli (Adriano Giannini), romantically attached to Katherine years ago, still carries a torch and drowns his sorrows in as much alcohol as possible.
The others remain undeveloped ciphers.
Cinematographer Ben Smithard makes the most of Morocco’s exotic vistas: beautiful in a way completely removed from, say, New Zealand’s lush, green hills.
Unfortunately, Grant overplays her hand with an unnecessary third-act crisis that feels contrived ... and then compounds the felony with an overly rushed finale. What for so long has been a persuasively warm depiction of two people coming together, abruptly becomes A Movie.
That’s a shame ... but although the destination leaves something to be desired, Dern and Hemsworth make the journey worth taking.
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