There’s something about the dynamic between director Irene Emma Villamor and actress Anne Curtis. Their tandem in Sid & Aya: Not a Love Story showcased how Villamor understands all of Curtis’ strengths and fully utilizes them, highlighting the full range of her acting talents while maximizing her magnetic screen presence. Along with Dingdong Dantes, the three made Sid & Aya: Not a Love Story a wonderful cinematic experience that proved mainstream movies can be both surprising and intellectually as well as emotionally engaging.
So swapping Dantes for the ever-reliable Jericho Rosales, The Loved One ups the ante, with Villamor presenting us with another romantic drama that pushes the boundaries of mainstream cinema, opting for restraint and introspection. Villamor, Curtis, and Rosales deliver a powerhouse film that explores how a partnership can shift over time and how memory is always a subjective experience.
The Loved One tells the story of Ellie (Curtis) and Eric (Rosales). It begins with Eric waiting for Ellie to arrive at a restaurant – filmed in black and white – where tension simmers from their text message exchange. Something has clearly happened between them.
While waiting, Eric begins to reminisce, and all these scenes are shown in color: the beginnings of their relationship all the way through ten years until this point, from their first dates to moving in together, to each protagonist’s highs and lows in life. Through his recollections, we witness their past until Ellie arrives and we see what those ten years have come to mean.
Villamor first posits that one person in any relationship is “the lover,” the one who loves more, while the other is “the loved one,” or the person who receives more of the love in that partnership. In the hodgepodge of memories that Eric brings up, all from various parts of their relationship, we see the less privileged Eric juggling work and his relationship with Ellie, while also providing for his family and we bear witness to his struggles and effort that he has put into his life. What’s wonderful about Villamor’s film is that its politics is toned down, though very clear in every scene. Ellie, coming from a more privileged background, lives in a huge house, practically a mansion, and all her magnificent wardrobe are either designer or custom-made clothing.
The restaurants they dine in are all fancy, and while the film never preaches about their rich-girl, poor-guy dynamic, it’s there for us to see. Eric never really brings it up, but it is something we notice, adding another layer to the effort he has taken to push their relationship for ten years.
But memory is subjective, and near the midpoint, Villamor does an incredible trick where Curtis’ Ellie looks directly at the camera and we begin seeing events from her point-of-view. Scenes are revisited, but through her perspective, and what we get is a full picture of a relationship that began earnestly and with the purest intentions. Yet, as life got in the way and the couple grew and changed, something was left behind.
Curtis and Rosales are in excellent form here. They deliver the carefully scripted lines so effortlessly that they make it sound casual and spontaneous. These are lived-in performances, and they communicate with their whole being that as Villamor directs the entire film to never lean into over-dramatics, the inner worlds of both characters are there for us to see.
While Rosales embodies the typical Pinoy man with big aspirations and dreams (which he does effortlessly), Curtis has the unenviable task of playing the far more complex Ellie. She’s a rich girl, but there’s an entire world inside of her and Curtis fully understood the assignment. Even when portraying Ellie in Eric’s recollection of events, the real Ellie is present, unseen by Eric but visible to the audience. When she takes over the narrative, we see it full stop. It’s such a detailed and nuanced performance that this might be the best Anne Curtis performance I’ve ever seen. I’m such a fan.
This film takes the personal and the specific and opens it up to the realm of the universal. The little fights they have, the joys they find in each other, the little things that make a relationship – both the good and the bad – are there for us to see. I’m very moved by this film, and it might be one of my favourites in Villamor’s impressive filmography.
My Rating: 5 Stars
Experience love, memory, and all the little moments in between with The Loved One. Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales shine in Irene Emma Villamor’s deeply moving romantic drama, now showing in cinemas. Don’t miss it.
