Two Lovers is a 2009 American romantic drama film loosely based on Dostoevskys W...

Two Lovers is a 2009 American romantic drama film, loosely based on Dostoevsky's "White Nights" starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw. It is directed by James Gray and set in a largely Russian Jewish neighborhood Brighton Beach in New York, much like Gray's first film Little Odessa. It premiered in competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival in May. This film is Gray's third to enter the competition at this festival. It was released theatrically limited on February 13, 2009. Plot The film starts with Leonard (Phoenix) walking along a walkway over the Sheepshead Bay creek in Brooklyn with dry cleaning when he drops the clothing and jumps into the ocean in an attempted suicide. He changes his mind and surfaces to be helped by random passerbys. After walking home to his parents apartment and his mother seeing him dripping wet it becomes evident that Leonard has had emotional problems and had tried to kill himself before. His parents tell him that a potential business partner and his family are invited for dinner. When they arrive Leonard finds out that he had been set up with the other families' daughter, Sandra (Shaw). He hits it off with Sandra and tells her how he had been engaged several years before but the relationship broke off because genetic counselling showed that he and his fiancee could not have had healthy children. A few days later, Leonard meets a new neighbor Michelle (Paltrow) in his apartment building hall. He is immediately attracted to her and spends time with her and goes out on the town with her and her friends. He finds out that she is dating a married partner in her law firm, Ronald (Koteas). Leonard later meets Ronald and Michelle for dinner at an upscale restaurant in the city. He goes home upset but then Sandra surprises him at home where they have sex. The next day he tells Michelle he no longer wants to see her and becomes further involved in a relationship with Sandra. After a while he is asked to photograph Sandra's brother's Bar Mitzvah. Afterward, Michelle calls him upset and says that she is sick. He takes Michelle to the hospital where she is treated for a miscarriage. She had not known she was pregnant. Then he takes her home and while talking to her, Ronald unexpectedly arrives. Leonard hides behind a door while Ronald apologizes to Michelle for not having come to the hospital and that he was going on a trip to London for two weeks. Two weeks later Michelle calls Leonard and meets him on the roof and tells him that had broken off the relationship with Ronald and is going to San Francisco. Leonard tells her not to go because he loves her but agrees that he will go with her the next day. He buys two tickets online, buys an engagement ring and packs for his trip. The next day, during his parents New Year's Eve party, he ducks out to the courtyard to meet Michelle where she tells him that she isn't going to San Francisco because Ronald had left his wife and will marry Michelle. Distraught, Leonard heads out to the beach apparently to kill himself. As he steps in the ocean, he drops a glove that Sandra had bought for him earlier. He picks up the glove, returns to the party, and seeing Sandra gives her the ring. Reception The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of critics gave positive reviews based on 82 reviews. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a 75% approval rating based on 28 reviews. Ray Bennett from The Hollywood Reporter defined the film as "an old-fashioned love story in which the melodramatic trapdoors of shock and surprise never open" and added that the film "will please many and it may win awards", though "the acting is (...) restrained." He also lauded the film as "a throwback to the days when love in the movies involved the mind as well as the heart." Cast * Joaquin Phoenix as Leonard Kraditor * Gwyneth Paltrow as Michelle Rausch * Vinessa Shaw as Sandra Cohen * Isabella Rossellini as Mrs. Ruth Kraditor * Moni Moshonov as Mr. Reuben Kraditor * Elias Koteas as Ronald Blatt * Bob Ari as Mr. Michael Cohen * Julie Budd as Mrs. Carol Cohen