Love of Your Life Review: ★★½☆☆ (2.5/5)
Love of Your Life starts with a warm, believable romance and a strong performance from Margaret Qualley. Once grief sends her character on a luxury trip around the world, the film turns into a pretty travel brochure that never digs deep.
Rating: ★★½☆☆ (2.5/5)
Platform: Prime Video
Genre: Romantic Drama
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Director: Rachel Morrison
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Gabriel Basso, Aaron Pierre, Catherine Keener
Rachel Morrison made history in 2018 when she became the first woman nominated for an Oscar for best cinematography, thanks to her work on Mudbound. She then moved into directing with the warm sports drama The Fire Inside. Now she returns with Love of Your Life, a story about romance, heartbreak and finding yourself again. The film looks lovely, but it struggles to say anything that feels truly real.
The story follows Maya, played by Margaret Qualley, an ER nurse in Boston who keeps everyone at a distance. She was born from a one-night stand; her mother never wanted her, and she has never believed in the idea of family.
Then she buys a bedside table from a sweet, nerdy academic named Charlie, played by Gabriel Basso, who falls for her at once. They move in together, surprise his mother Ruth, played by Catherine Keener, with a wedding at their apartment, and even talk about starting a family.
The first part of the film is its best. Their wedding night is a standout scene, and Qualley looks more relaxed than usual, with an easy chemistry that feels natural and warm. It is refreshing to see a mainstream romance treat intimacy this casually.
Then the pandemic arrives. Maya works long days around a deadly virus, while Charlie, who has asthma, refuses to stay away from her. They try to hold on to their honeymoon bubble while ambulance sirens fill the streets.
It is meant to be relatable, but it is hard to feel much when we are watching two beautiful, comfortable people try to shield themselves from a global crisis. It does not work; Charlie gets sick, and Maya becomes a young widow.
From here, the film turns into what feels like a grief vacation. Maya leaves her new family behind and drifts through Lisbon, London, and beyond, drinking, smoking, and working remote telehealth jobs to pay for it all. Reviewers have compared it to Eat Pray Love, and it is easy to see why.
She meets a gorgeous British man named Felix, played by Aaron Pierre, who is also a perfect single dad with no flaws, and she follows him into a postcard life. By then, the harsh reality of the pandemic feels like a faint memory.
This is where Julia Cox’s script loses touch with real feeling. We hear that Maya’s online therapist says they are “really getting somewhere,” but we never see it. Her recovery is hard to follow, her personality seems less clear as the years pass, and the dialogue leans on general therapy talk.
Qualley brings sincerity to the role, and she does her best to give a vague character a soul, but the longer we stay with Maya, the less alive she seems.
The images are beautiful, with glowing, carefully lit shots from cinematographer Todd Benhazl, but they do not add up to much meaning. The film moves through its eight-year timeline in a straight line without any special rhythm, and it never feels fully cinematic. It also seems afraid to show anything ugly or to admit that Maya is one of countless people who lost someone during those years.
The best moment comes late, when Maya is finally forced to face Ruth. Catherine Keener is superb here, playing a mother who has not had the chance to mourn in the sun. Set against a plain, grey house, the scene suddenly feels honest and raw. Sadly, it comes too late to save the film.
If you want a polished drama that is easy on the eyes, this will do the job. But if you want real emotional weight, it may leave you cold. For release details, you can check our guide on when and where to watch Love of Your Life. And if you want a drama that explores love and identity with more depth, our review of 100 Days of Deception covers a Korean spy series where lies become survival.
Love of Your Life arrives on Prime Video on October 14.