Movie Review - Two of Us (2021)

This is currently in the running to be one of the best LGBTQ films of the year. Yes, the Frameline Film Festival has presented a selection of titles that can and most likely will get distribution this year. The same will happen with Outfest Los Angeles this summer. Other film festivals will present LGBTQ films to consider, but, right now, this film is at the top of my list. It was the official submission from France to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature. It made the shortlist but it didn't get the nomination. Having seen all five films that did get nominated for Best International Feature, I can now confidently say that this film was robbed. With the exception of Quo Vadis, Aida? from Bosnia, I would have preferred this film over all the others nominated, including the film that won, that of Another Round from Denmark. The heart and warmth present in this film alone elevates it above most of the others.

Martine Chevallier plays Madeleine Girard or Mado, an elderly French woman who's probably in her 70's or maybe even older. She lives in some city in the south of France, not Paris. She has an apartment, a really nice one on a top floor. She seemingly lives alone, but it's clear that Mado is a lesbian. She has a female partner with whom she fell in love while being married to her husband. We never meet the husband who has since passed away, but it's implied that Mado left her husband for her female partner. Yet, it's also clear that Mado never told her family, particularly her now adult children why she left. Mado is still very much in the closet. It's akin to Chris Bolan's A Secret Love (2020), a great documentary about aging lesbians.

Barbara Sukowa (Gloria Bell and Hannah Arendt) stars as Nina Dorn, the aforementioned partner to Mado. She seems like she might be a bit younger than Mado. She's probably in her late 60's or early 70's. She too is retired and has an apartment right across the hall from Mado, but that apartment is practically empty. She in reality lives with Mado. She encourages Mado to come out to her children because she's excited with selling their places and moving to Rome. The question becomes if Mado is going to come out to her grown children.

What plays out are a series of ups and downs that I certainly wasn't expecting. Yes, it's a queer relationship but one explored in an unlikely way and in a subtle way that becomes a bit of a thrill ride. Unlike other queer romances, it's not about sex. There's no depiction of it, even though a sex scene between elderly women would have been appreciated. Director and co-writer Filippo Meneghetti resists carnal depictions, but he nails the emotional passion. A lot of that passion comes from the performances of these two actresses who are incredible. A lot of it too comes from Meneghetti's filmmaking.

It's interesting because the film begins from the point-of-view of Mado. It then switches to Nina's point-of-view. However, Chevallier's performance remains strong. She's mainly wordless for the majority of the film. The back half of the film features her giving an incredible performance with only her eyes, which is probably some of the best eye-acting I've ever seen. Sukowa does a lot of the heavy lifting emotionally. She performs a wide range of feelings that all hit so well.

Yet, the switching of point-of-view is one of the interesting things that Meneghetti does here that show his greatness as a filmmaker. How he chooses to frame his shots and how he chooses to edit certain scenes demonstrate great skill and vision. He just comes off as very clever. His cleverness is apparent from the very opening scene, which involves a game of hide-and-seek between two young girls that is magical and haunting. He continues with perfect close-up shots of his actresses that capture and convey their emotions superbly. Meneghetti's shot of a frying pan on a stove was one of the greatest shots I've seen in a while in what it communicates in such a simple way.

Léa Drucker (Synonyms and Custody) rounds out the cast as Anne, the adult daughter to Mado. She's in the dark about her mom's homosexuality. She tries to be more of a presence in her mom's life. She's not like her brother who blames her mother for their parents' divorce. However, it seems as if she's not above homophobia and could be one of the reasons her mother resisted coming out of the closet. She loves her mom, but simply didn't know or didn't want to know about her mother's actual life. Drucker is great in the role in a cast full of great women.

Deux.
Not Rated but for mature audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 35 mins.

Available on Hulu.