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Mar 24, 2014 By Zach Hollwedel Web Exclusive

Five years ago, Nikki (Annette Bening) lost her husband to a drowning accident while on vacation, and she lives in a state of perpetual mourning, unable to recover from his untimely death. One day, she compels herself to visit the art museum she used to frequent with her husband; there, she is left speechless by the appearance of a man who looks just like him. She returns to the museum time and again hoping for another sighting. Nikki follows him and orchestrates a meeting. Tom (Ed Harris) is an art professor at a local college, and he and Nikki quickly strike up a romance. They fall hard – Tom for Nikki, and Nikki for a continuation of her life with her late husband. The more infatuated Tom becomes, the more difficult it is for Nikki to keep the two men – and her true motivation for being with him – straight.

Arie Posin, who also co-wrote, handedly sets up the potential for a dark, or at the very least, trying relationship between Tom and Nikki. However, the execution falls short of expectations. Nikki’s love for Tom is so esoteric and misdirected that one can only feel bad for the guy. He sees love in Nikki’s eyes, but has no idea it’s not for him. She lies to him throughout the entirety of their courtship – and when she’s not lying to him, she’s hiding him from the other people in her life. It’s an uphill battle to understand what he sees in her, especially how prone Nikki is to breakdowns and how frequently she calls Tom by her late husband’s name.

Bening and Harris are superb actors, and with lesser talent, the film would surely have suffered even more. Still, their performances can do little to salvage this “love” story. Perhaps if Tom wasn’t such a great guy, and Nikki had to deal with a man who looked just like her hubby but was nothing like him, that’d be one thing. But Tom is the perfect mate – independent of his likeness – and with only two other people in her life, it is too easy for Nikki to conceal him. The Face of Love is light on impact, heavy on Nikki’s incessant crying, and could have been so much more than it wound up being.

www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-face-of-love

Author rating: 4/10