When Faced with an Illness, a Couple Tries to Maintain Their Bond

Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville in "Ordinary Love"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

*With movie theaters closed at the moment, some of the reviews that I’ll be writing will be for 2020 movies that I either missed near the beginning of the year, or 2020 movies that were scheduled to be released this year, but have since been sent to streaming and on-demand services. 

There are many areas to explore when it comes to love stories.  Whether we see them right from the beginnings of the relationships, or just a snapshot of the lives that the two partners share, there’s a wealth of honest emotion to witness as these narrative play out.  The latest example of this is given to us with Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s romantic drama, “Ordinary Love,” a soul-stirring testament to how the devotion between two people is needed when faced with any challenge.

Joan (Lesley Manville) and Tom (Liam Neeson) are a married couple that shares a peaceful life.  When Joan finds out that she has breast cancer, this diagnosis will make her and Tom reevaluate their relationship as they face the prospect of only having a little more time together.

Manville and Neeson provide a heartfelt portrait of a wife and husband that has you feel the many years of love that they have shared, which secures your emotional investment in their tribulation.  You see their characters express the sense of doubt that they have in coming out of this all right, but they also show the strength in taking this chapter of their lives in stride and hoping for the best, and you remain confident that their commitment to each other will carry them through this diagnosis.  The two leads show a superb spirit in their performances as their characters do what they can to make it through this hardship, and whether they have civil conversations or fights with each other, they display an intense believability in their roles that makes the movie as effective as it is.

There’s also a terrific supporting performance from David Wilmot, who portrays a fellow cancer patient who sparks a friendship with Joan.  His work in the film is a rich example of someone who might be facing the end of his life and sees how important it is to have someone to whom you can talk during such an uncertain time.  There’s a lot of power behind his character’s soft-spoken persona, and the scenes that he shares with Manville dives into the deep camaraderie that can be witnessed between two people who know how the other is feeling when faced with the same ordeal.

The screenplay by Owen McCafferty may be a little thin with its story, but it manages to craft a genuine view of a marriage that’s tested by unexpected hurdles.  Each scene builds upon the last in terms of Joan and Tom’s relationship, so even though we’re only seeing a short period of their marriage, it’s enough to give us an idea of how their marital bond was before the events of the movie.  Between Joan and Tom shopping for groceries, going out to eat, or going out on a run, McCafferty provides his characters with plenty of scenes in which they try to maintain some normalcy in their lives as they face the challenge at hand, and these scenes offer just as much emotional resonance as everything else in the film.

Barros D’Sa and Leyburn provide the film with the solemn atmosphere for which the story calls, while also having the love between Joan and Tom radiate underneath and show glimmers of optimism, giving you hope that everything might turn out all right.  This is a love story through and through, and their direction doesn’t require visual flourishes because all it takes for a narrative like this is simple cameras movements and framing (provided by cinematographer Piers McGrail) that capture the tender feeling that the characters and screenplay emanate.

While “Ordinary Love” shows how some relationships have to face challenges that are different from other relationships, it also emphasizes that all relationships have to face something life-changing at some point, and that’s about as honest, and ordinary, as it gets.

Grade: A-