the audience applauded

Fantastic!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The Face of Love (2013)There is a terrific movie in here somewhere, but it misses on several subtle points here and there and ends up being good, totally watchable, and a nice view on Ed Harris (as Tom) and Annette Bening (as Nikki), the leading actors.At its best, the movie dug into the nature of mourning and loss, and in love. The two main actors were struggling with losses, each, and ran into each other and some confused sparks flew. But the hook to the movie, and the problem really, is a quirk. Nikki sees Tom and he looks exactly like her dead husband (Garrett). So she has a weird attachment to him, and leads him on (a little like Vertigo in the second half). It's a fun idea, but it doesn't quite fly.So really the movie follows this couple in their 50s falling in love. With the constant worry that the woman's psychosis will screw things up. You'll have to see. Warm, with perturbations.Oh, and Robins Williams has one of his last roles here. He's nice and sympathetic, and maybe not quite enough for the role, which is the third leg to the whole thing in theory.

I'd almost forgotten about Annette Bening, but I rather enjoyed several of her performances in earlier years. I never really cared for Ed Harris, but have come to appreciate him more as he has matured. So when I noticed this on cable I thought it might be worth watching. As I began watching it, for a short while I thought it might be almost Hitchcockian...but unfortunately, it was not. First of all, Hitchcok's films were never plodding, and the early part of this film is very plodding. Of course, Benning's character is depressed after the drowning death of her husband. But it seems to be in a plodding phase a little too long. It begins to perk up a tad when she begins seeing a man who looks like he could be her husband's twin brother (Ed Harris). And this is where there could have been such a wonderful Hitchcockian plot. But alas, it's just a story about a depressed woman who obsesses over the man who likes like her dead husband.Once you realize where the story is going, you settle in for the long wait...the wait to find out how Harris' character finds out that Benning's character loves him for all the wrong reasons.Benning does a nice enough job here, although I actually think Harris' performance is stronger. My big question is why did Robin Williams agree to play the third wheel (a neighbor whose wife died). Williams is fine enough in the part, but it seems a bit beneath him.There are a couple of things wrong with this film, and while this may not be a big thing, who the heck selected Annette Benning's wardrobe. PU. The other thing is that Annete Benning's character is so creepy, that Harris' character would be a fool to fall in love with her. I mean it...really creepy! Of course, the climax of the film comes when Harris finally figures out that Benning is "in love" with him because he looks like her ex-husband. Of course, for a few minutes you wonder if one or both of them will also drown, and... And I'm not sure at all how I feel about the final ending of the film.Do I recommend this? No. Well, maybe if nothing else is on the cable channels that you want to watch.

Loved it. Two living but dead people. Both with secrets and deceptions. Which deception is the bigger? Hers that his eerie resemblance to her late husband initially attracts her? Or his, the fact that he doesn't have long to live - a "bad ticker", and that any relationship he has will have a sad outcome?In the end, this strange relationship allows her to move on from her loss and mourning...somehow putting the ghost of her husband and also the anger that she had toward him for dying to rest. For Tom, who by the way never reveals his secret, he has found his Muse. She resurrects his art...for ten years he never painted, but once again this has sparked a plethora of great art from his hand. What is life about in essence? Being fully alive...I loved the background scenery....upscale but still remember this is a fantastical type of tale...and it's just staging. Pay attention to the message. Certainly enjoyed this film. The actors were great as usual.

Just rented "The Face of Love". Really hits home and Annette Bening / Ed Harris plays a wonderful haunted part of the one(s) left behind. I was taken back by the hours shown in her gorgeous but now mausoleum of a home and the mind numbing quiet of a suddenly one occupant house hold. There were scenes in which you could actual / symbolical hear the ticking of the minute hand of the clock as Bening was left to rattle around. Writes depicted very accurately the family dynamics of grown children dealing with later in life parental issues as well as Parents learning to navigate later in life relationships. I was taken back with Robin Williams portrayal as the ever faithful stand by Teddy Bear Cuddly Pal of Roger" that was over looked.....made me tear several times as the movie unfolded given the circumstance we now are facing with life after Robin. {which pains me greatly to actually write this as I still have and hang onto tenaciously my "Its a Wonderful Life" Dream scenario.......only in the aftermath of and in the waking realizing this was only a very bad dream from which I am shaking outa my unconscious mind and life is a World in which Robin is still here and is Happily and Healthily riding his bike in and of the high trails of San Fran...........if only......................