I’m a huge fan of director Jeffrey Jeturian’s work. From his earlier films like Pila Balde and Tuhog, which I teach in my class, to his gritty, award-winning film Kubrador and the hilarious satire Ekstra, Jeturian has a keen eye for detail, bringing them out to the forefront in his stories while using cinematic techniques to make these narratives touch upon universal themes. So, naturally, I was excited to see his return to the MMFF with Unmarry, a film that tackles annulment but, with screenwriters Chris Martinez and Therese Cayaba, approaches it in a very human, very Pinoy way.
At the law office of Attorney Jacqueline Lambridas (Eugene Domingo), Celine (Angelica Panganiban) and Ivan (Zanjoe Marudo) meet in a full rom-com set-up.
Celine is filing for an annulment from her controlling, misogynistic husband, Stephen (Tom Rodriguez), while Ivan needs a lawyer as his wife, Maya (Solenn Heussaff), is filing one for their marriage.
The two end up bonding over their shared predicament, though they’re on the opposite sides of the case, Celine wants to separate while Ivan wants to fight the annulment, as both find kindred spirits in each other.
The film goes through each step of the annulment process, with Celine and Ivan find themselves leaning on one another as their whole lives are laid bare out into the open: all their mistakes, their vulnerabilities, and their weaknesses come into the foreground.
But as Celine and Ivan prepare for a serious legal battle, sparks begin to fly, and the possibility of a new romantic beginning starts to sprout between the two.
What initially surprised me in the first twenty minutes was the utter simplicity of Jeturian’s direction and the script of Martinez and Cayaba. It wasn’t what I was expecting. The mise-en-scene is quite conventional, with no complicated camera work or playful visual setups. The script could be very straight-forward, though funny at all the right moments. At first, I was disappointed, anticipating something bigger and grander.
But as the film unfolds, I realised that the simplicity of it felt deliberate. Through its clean, neat, and no-frills direction, Unmarry ends up highlighting the themes of the story, allowing the characters to be seen as human beings going through a very difficult challenge in their lives. While it has the pacing and the tempo of a commercial film, it never feels like it exploits these characters’ drama for entertainment. We see them as people, and we witness the very struggles of wives and husbands who are going through the annulment process.
Even the acting is deliberately downplayed. Panganiban and Marudo are consistently so powerful and reliable in the work that they do. This could easily sway into the realm of the melodrama, but they play it so light and so naturally that the emotions feel real. It’s very human and it’s such a delicate performance, it’s wonderful to watch.
This is also one of my favourite Eugene Domingo performances in a long time. This feels like early-era Eugene Domingo where she just played the scene as is, letting the humor come out with just the smallest of gestures and expressions, impeccable timing, and need to dig in deep. And when she has to get serious, she shifts seamlessly so that she helps the film to pivot tonally when it needs to in key moments.
Heussaff delivers such an honest performance, with none of her lines ever feeling scripted. She’s always such a strong screen presence, but in this film, she allows herself to get vulnerable without having to perform it, staying in tune with the rest of the cast.
My only issue, though, is with Tom Rodriguez’s Stephen. Rodriguez is a good actor, but his choice to play Stephen as a one-dimensional narcissist feels off-putting in a film that is otherwise so restrained. He is the film’s primary antagonist but since everything about this film feels grounded, his singular attack on a narcissism feels cartoon-y here and out of sync with the grounded tone of the rest of the movie.
Someone very close to me has gone through what Celine has gone through, so watching this movie really hit home for me. All the emotions, the struggle, the self-doubt felt very familiar to me. I found myself recalling all the late-night talks with this person as I was watching the film and I cannot stress how wonderful it is to see this movie present these issues in a restrained and non-judgmental way.
The way the whole cast and crew juggle the tonal shifts, jumping seamlessly back and forth between comic and tragic, amplifies the human aspect of these events. The film makes no prescription about marriages that are falling apart. Some characters are for it and some characters are against it; the aftermath of which are the character’s own rewards or consequences that they have to face. It’s up to the audience to make their own decisions. And while this is a work of fiction, the authentic human experience is there for us to discuss.
I really do hope people see this film.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Don’t miss this charming, human take on love and annulment and authenticity of Unmarry. Check showtimes here.