At the time that I'm writing this review there are five other reviews: two that are critical and three that seem overly enthusiastic. I tend to agree with the two reviewers who fault the dialogue. For the most part the dialogue is poorly written and poorly delivered. A lot of the time the lines seemed awkward and the words seemed forced.
I've seen one other movie that this director/writer has done, 'Slutty Summer,' and one of the common threads is his use of relatively new talent. Although the actress who played the fake wife was pretty good, had the other actors been a bit more seasoned the story might have been better. Even so, the writing could use some improvement.
A perceptible time-line would have helped to create a more realistic vibe too. The only way to tell how much time has passed between events is when a character states that it's been a week or two months or a year. It doesn't feel as though the viewer has gone along on the journey, just told about it. For example, after Marcel's jealousy, anger and resentment seemed to go from 0-60 in seconds we're clued into the fact that the time frame has just jumped two months which explains that the seemingly erratic behavior is actually the culmination of emotions that developed over an extended period of time. But, we wouldn't have to be told this if we saw a bit more of the natural progression along a discernible time-line.
Moreover, like 'Slutty Summer,' this film lacks the vibrancy of color. There are a lot of gray tones and it makes for a pretty drab picture.
All that being said the story is actually pretty good and the movie is entirely watchable. Even with the faults noted previously, the film shows that gay relationships are subject to many of the same forces as straight relationships (i.e. jealousy, interference) while also encountering hurdles (i.e. marriage recognition) that create additional obstacles for gay relationships. This director/writer can tell a good story --- it just needs to be more polished.
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