After Love

The movie "After Love" is an adult film that discusses the strength of a relationship of a couple after one departs. The realization that we haven't known the person we've been in living together for many years. The painful discovery of a parallel life that is not part of yours. Joanna Scanlan's performance as Mary is breathtaking, she carries the entire film, and she manages to convince us of the pain of loss, the discovery of betrayal, the fear of entering this parallel life, and the acceptance of reality. It's an enchanting and powerful performance. Director Aleem Khan also brings a mix of cultures (Pakistani, English, and French) which enhances the plot even more.

After Love tackles bigamy. After the sudden death of her Pakistani husband Ahmed. His English wife Mary (Joanna Scanlan) who converted Islam and took the Muslim name Fahima learns that he had a long term relationship with a woman in France.

Ahmed worked on the ferries. He regularly travelled between Dover and Calais. To learn more about his double life, Mary sought out Genevieve (Nathalie Richard) who mistook Mary for a cleaner. She also learned that Genevieve had a son with Ahmed. A teenager called Solomon.

Instead of confronting Genevieve, Mary learns more about her late husband's second family.

The directorial debut of Aleem Khan. After Love is a slow burn film, a character study of Mary who is angry at her husband's deception as well as sadness over his death. There are symbolic visions of the cracks in her life. She examines her rotund body after she has met the slimmer Genevieve as her husband's betrayal lingers in her mind.

The film also contrasts the two characters. Mary became a devout Muslim, who learned some Urdu and was able to cook Pakistani food. Genevieve did neither of these things. At one point Mary retorts, 'I did something for my husband that no one else could.' Hence why Ahmed stayed married to her.

In the end After Love is about reconciliation and understanding rather than bitterness. A thoughtful film.

A revelation from the start. Great performances, carefully nuanced but never boring and serves it out. Also beautifully filmed and scored. Scanlon is a mixture of funny, broken and pained -- but all totally believable. See this strange little movie. It will not disappoint.

Should also note that there is no wasted character or portrayal. It is a tight ninety minutes showing how the main character's entire belief system -- in her husband, her faith, her very reality -- is suddenly in doubt. Best yet, her investigation pressing into these issues is totally believable as it occurs. This is rare. See it.

No long boring speeches peppered with big words just for the sake of it. No action sequences. Just reality. Beautiful, heartbreaking reality.

The actors are all perfect for their roles and although the basic plot has been told in a million other stories, there is something really special about After Love. It draws you in and leaves you wanting more.

The mix of English/French/Pakistani cultures is a refreshing change.

I bought this as I love Joanna Scanlan's work but didn't know what to expect before viewing this on Blu Ray but can safely say that this is now one of my favourite films of the 21st Century.

The small cast were all tremendous. Hope to see them all in other things soon.

Her pain is so palpable, she has so beautifully portrayed a woman's world coming crashing over her and then all over again and again, and to discover a bitter sweet emotion, finally a warm love emerges through it all. Such a myriad of feelings.