An unusually difficult, painful and very well-acted love story: Harry Wootliff's ONLY YOU

By now we've seen a number of films and cable entertainments that deal with the problems of couples who want children but are unable to procreate these in what we might have once called "standard fashion." (The most recent of these that TrustMovies readily recalls is Tamara Jenkins' fine film for Netflix, Private Life.)

Now comes British filmmaker Harry Wootliff's movie, ONLY YOU, an honest-to-god love story driven by this same engine of reproductive failure and how to handle it.

Ms Wootliff (shown at right; is her first name short for Harriet, I wonder?) begins her film with our heroine, Elena (beautifully played by Laia Costa, of The Time in Between), being told by her friends, as they drink themselves into oblivion, that she absolutely should be in a relationship.

Before you can say "meet semi-cute," she has connected with the character who will fill that bill, her co-star, played in even better fashion by Josh O'Connor, of God's Own Country and this new season of The Crown: he's Prince Charles. (Just this past Sunday evening, in fact, O'Connor won a BIFA award -- not BAFTA, as I unfortunately earlier posted -- for Best Actor of the Year for his role in this film, while Ms Wootliff won for Best Debut Director!) In short order we're confronted with what has the hallmarks of a real love relationship but simultaneously carries with it problems such as age difference (she's considerably older than she initially admits) and then the supposed necessity of pregnancy.

The writing and direction (both by Wootliff), together with the two lead performances, are all good enough to place us firmly on the side of the protagonists and keep us there -- despite some midway longueurs -- throughout. In my own experience and very probably yours, as well, we've seen enough real-life examples of infertility to make this dilemma more than merely believable.

Both parties here want to have a child and are willing to go through the necessities involved in bringing this to fruition. But what happens if and when nothing seems to work? How does our couple respond? You will see, and for the most part you will care and respond as does this pair.

The movie grow deeper and more painful as it moves along, buoyed by the work of its two leading actors, as well as the well-chosen supporting cast, particularly Peter Wight in the role of Jake's father. As love stories go, which Only You most definitely is, this one is worth seeing and savoring.

From 1091 and running a lengthy but worthwhile two hours, the movie arrives on digital streaming tomorrow, Tuesday, December 3 -- for purchase and/or rental. 

Kris Swanberg's UNEXPECTED explores how women (and men) experience pregnancy today

One of the strengths of UNEXPECTED is that we haven't seen so much of the ways in which women experience the "idea" of pregnancy in our current times: what it might mean to their ability to continue working and still take care of their child, how it might begin to reflect a growing schism between their men and themselves (the film doesn't address lesbian or gay parenthood, though the concerns may be quite similar). Co-writer (with Megan Mercier) and director of the film, Kris Swanberg, has quite rightly, I think, swung her pendulum toward the distaff side of things, so we learn a lot about the fears and desires of a 30-something young woman who is about to lose her teaching job because her school is closing due to cuts in the education budget.

Simultaneous to this, our co-heroine, Samantha (Cobie Smulders, above, left), also discovers that she is pregnant. Another simultaneity occurs when Sam's best student, a girl she is grooming for college, discovers that she, too, is unexpectedly pregnant. The two, somewhat bonded already, now go for it big-time. Ms Swanberg, pictured at right, has a somewhat famous and quite adorable new child of her own (he's appeared in a couple of smart and funny films already), so she knows from where she comes. She also wants to open her movie up to include new mothers of other races and classes: hence the inclusion of the student, Jasmine (played quite well by Gail Bean, shown above, right, and below) into the mix.

The filmmaker has also given us two quite different men: Sam's couldn't-be-sweeter-and-more-caring white-guy boyfriend, John (a spot-on Anders Holm, below, right, and Jasmine's more typical, not-yet-grown-up-and-doesn't-want-to, Travis, played by the also spot-on Aaron J. Nelson.

If these two men, together with the situation presented us, seem to fall into that typical "whites have it easier than blacks" scenario, well, why not? This is true, with rare exceptions, throughout our country. The point of Swanberg's movie -- in addition to its take on women and pregnancy -- is how little Sam, for all the help she tries to be and offer, really understands or appreciates Jasmine's situation and dilemma.

While this rings true enough, situation-wise, how it is expressed in some of the dialog and especially how the issue is resolved do not ring true. All this unfortunately makes the move seem skin deep when it ought to be more probing. And the inclusion of a short scene, above, of a demonstration of protesting school-teachers, just adds to this sense of surface.

All this is a shame because the movie has quite a bit going for it (including Elizabeth McGovern's interesting turn as Samantha's alternately supporting and annoying mother). So tamp down those expectations, enjoy the better parts and roll your eyes a bit at some of the rest, and you'll have a pretty good -- if pretty much expected -- time.

Unexpected, from Alchemy and running just 87 minutes, hits the streets tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29, on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and early EST -- for purchase and/or rental.