To really discuss a film critically, it has long been my belief that you should not concern yourself with spoilers. You simply cannot give an accurate review of structure or plot if you have to hide parts of the film, parts that are often vital to your enjoyment or displeasure of the film. For that reason I have no qualms with discussing the end of Two Lovers in this review.
I feel that this film has been misrepresented by Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian and makes me wonder if he has even seen the film. The offending sentence is as follows, "Two Lovers surges inexorably towards an awful betrayal, before doing a handbrake turn into a happy ending." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/mar/27/two-lovers-film-review-joaquin-phoenix-gwyneth-paltrow). There is no way that this film's closing scene can be described as a happy ending. After Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) is harshly rejected by Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), he proposes to Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), a woman he has never expressed any love for and only been unhappy with the prospect of the relationship with her. How the fuck is that a happy ending?
Beyond that point the film is lukewarm. There is nothing new or surprising about the plotting. Joaquin Phoenix offers one of his better performances. There is nothing interesting about Michelle and one cannot possibly understand why Leonard has such an intense love for her. Sandra is a much more fully drawn character.
That is all.
