No. 15 (2022) AFTER LOVE Feb. 23rd.

 

Film No. 15 (2022)  February 23rd.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                        

"Back then I did something for my husband that no one else could" (Mary tells Genevieve of a sacrifice she made for her husband; the same man Genevieve thought she knew intimately).

Perhaps because of the brilliantly impactful, single shot, opening scene, the remainder of AFTER LOVE, for me, never quite reached the dramatic heights I was expecting. This is not to say I'm shunning the film, I'm not, but the melodrama that unfolded for the next 85 minutes never reached the Ken Loach like qualities depicted in the opening five minutes. 

Aleem Khan is a writer/director to follow. His story of Mary (Joanna Scanlan), a muslim housewife, of English descent, living in Dover and coping with the death of her husband Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia) is original but not without well worn story strands and revelations of  "the husband had a double life".

There are plenty of questions raised by Khan in this, his first feature film. His lead character, Mary, an English woman converted to Islam for love. Her life with Ahmed is not without loneliness as he works away. A single shot of Ahmed, in naval uniform, on the wall in their house, our only clue. Mary adheres to her converted life with a strictness not matched by her husband, a migrant who brought his world to Mary. Khan brings Islamic women's repression issues to the table here. These themes are emphasised more fervently when Mary travels to France to meet Ahmed's second family.

The bulk of the story takes place across the channel when Mary takes the ferry and travels no more that 30 kilometres to where the deception took place. Mary soon realises that Genevieve (Nathalie Richard) and son Solomon (Talid Ariss) have lived a family life with Ahmed and this shatters all comprehension of who she thought her husband was. Mary learns many of her husband's secrets by (in a case of mistaken identity) becoming Genevieve's cleaner. It's here that the film wanes for me. Melodrama and a sense of predictability dilutes the impact I'd hoped AFTER LOVE would have.

AFTER LOVE is however being well received and tells a rich thought provoking story. It's a good film. Khan is a film maker now on my watchlist. This, his first feature is full of merit. The simplicity of his opening sequence and its impactful nature gives him serious cred!  9GUMS.