The Objects of Love

The Objects of Love is one of those films that wants to find the artistry in the everyday; the ordinary. In this case, it focuses on the immigrant experience and crafts a romantic relationship between two women based on this. In theory at least, I am all for this. However, The Objects of Love’s choice of what I can only describe as lengthy naturalism (long dialogue scenes that don’t advance the plot and lengthy, static camera shots) impeded my enjoyment of the film. I have issues with attention span and The Objects of Love challenged that.

The lead character in the film is Luz. Luz has immigrated from Chile to Italy to start a new life. However, she soon realizes it’s not the fantasy she might have expected. Luz lives in a dingy room with several other new immigrants. She works a menial job she’s not getting paid for and gets scammed by someone who said they would help her. During Luz’s search for connection in an unfamiliar place, she meets up with Fran. While Luz initially thought Fran was male, surprise! Fran is a woman. Despite this brief setback, the women fall in love. However, despite the love, and culture they share, Fran and Luz are fundamentally different people with different world views and their relationship struggles because of this.

I do like the relationship and the characters in this film. Fran and Luz’s relationship is well-realized. They have solid characterizations and said characterizations are what creates conflict in their relationship. This is well-done. The film creates a realistic portrait of a relationship doomed not by external forces but just differences between the two parties.

In general, I like all the concepts The Objects of Love is putting down. On paper, it all sounds great. It’s just in its realization that I was left lukewarm. The Objects of Love has little urgency to it. I often checked how long was left in the film because it felt like half an hour would go by without any significant plot development. It’s just a length and pacing problem I had with the film. The Objects of Love is nearly two hours but felt longer.

The Objects of Love is slow and very talky. On the plus side, within all that talking the film does have some good and important stuff to say. It’s also a good looking and well-shot film. However, the film didn’t draw me in enough that I was always paying full attention to what it was saying. I might have enjoyed the film if I saw it in a theatre without distractions. But I saw The Objects of Love in my own home. The film failed to draw me in enough that I wasn’t distracted by a dozen other things during its run time.

Overall rating: 5.2/10

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