Just the Two of Us

It is difficult not to compare Just the Two of Us to That Tender Touch. Both movies were released within a year of each other in a time when few WLW movies exist. They’re both lesbian melodramas with too much plot to technically count as exploitation but too many sex scenes to be anything else. Of the two movies, Just the Two of Us has a much happier ending. Yet it’s not the better movie. While I am pleased that Just the Two of Us featured zero dead lesbians, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a poorly written and acted movie that failed to make me care about its two leads.

The film is the cautionary tale about what happens when a husband leaves his wife alone too long without even a child to keep her company. Adria and Denise are two friends with busy working husbands who are often away. After seeing a lesbian couple one day, Denise admits to Adria that she has less than platonic feelings for her. The two women sleep together and a sexual element is added to their friendship. However, this is not Adria’s only affair. Adria also begins seeing with an actor who she quickly falls for. While Denise tries to get over Adria by hooking up with the first lesbian she meets, Adria’s husband discovers her heterosexual affair.

What is really striking about Just the Two of Us is its ending. It feels like an inverse of the classic ending to queer fiction of this time period. When they don’t end in death, these stories tended to end with the lead character learning a lesson about how the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the sexuality fence and a return to staunch heterosexuality after learning a lesson. Just the Two of Us flips this ending. Here, Adria learns a lesson about how men are shitty. The film ends with her and Denise reuniting and leaving together. Just the Two of Us provides the most unlikely ending for a lesbian love story in 1970, a hopeful ending.

But as previously stated, a lack dead lesbians isn’t enough to make this a good movie. For all this it’s nice in theory that these characters end up together, this would have made greater impact on me if I cared at all about them. Both of these women are incredibly flat characters played by first-time actresses. And given their performances, it is not surprising to me that neither of them went on to have a career in acting. Denise’s entire personality boils down to being a closeted lesbian in love with her best friend and Adria is little more than spoiled and needy. I also don’t think this relationship will last long-term given Adria’s short attention span in regards to affection and her willingness to have an affair at the first sign of flirtation.

The story itself is also quite bland. We mostly just follow these boring characters living a pretty standard life. The dialogue has only two modes: blatant plot development or tedious filler. If we’re not hearing Denise talk about her lesbian feelings or Adria recount her affair, they’re talking about the most mundane topics that have no place being in a movie. The amount of filler also increases as the movie goes on which seems backwards. The film features multiple musical numbers shown in full that don’t advance the plot and just eat up time as the movie plods towards its disappointing climax.

Additionally, the quality of film and sound in Just the Two of Us is pretty poor. Whatever camera they used was low-budget and far away from anything that can be described as HD. Worse is the sound which is simultaneously muffled yet echo-y. I understand about financial and technical limitations but it does cut into my enjoyment of this movie.

I want to give Just the Two of Us points for trying. This is a movie that has lesbian characters, discussions about whether lesbianism is okay and doesn’t kill any of said lesbians. I love all that but ultimately, I can’t give this movie a positive review. It is a largely boring watch filled with characters I don’t care about and extremely shoddy acting. While it might be worth a watch for some sort of historical interest, Just the Two of Us is, by any measure, not an objectively good movie.

Overall rating: 3.1/10

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