You know the story: A disenchanted writer and college professor is seduced by a younger woman, pulling him out of an existential lull and helping him reconnect with his creativity. It’s a narrative that lands awkwardly in 2022, romanticizing problematic power dynamics and casting women as mere props to a man’s personal growth.
“Art of Love”, directed by Betty Kaplan, is a male fantasy. Called only the writer (Esai Morales), the film’s lead role is an enigmatic old man surrounded by women who flatter him, despite his apathy. When he begins to receive cryptic messages from a fan – slipped by a young woman on a skateboard, chalked onto the sidewalk, or hidden in the pages of a book – the writer seems invigorated for the first time. time. He soon discovers that the messages are from a young Chinese immigrant named Li Chao (Kunjue Li), eager to escape the confines of her situation. The two embarked on a giggling, unsettling, and confusing journey through town, placing art installations, having pseudo-profound discussions, and eventually getting physical, despite Li’s early proclamation that she is a lesbian.
The film is replete with tropes and stereotypes: Li’s character is a model of sobriety and submission who serves as a spokesperson for problematic beliefs, noting at one point that her “irregular choice” of reading makes her a anomaly in his island Chinese community. Lesbianism is treated as a matter of circumstance rather than an identity in its own right.
And the film reinforces the fiction that it’s often younger women who seduce older men and not the other way around. The writing, which leaves something to be desired, highlights these issues. Tortured by Li’s elusiveness, the writer wonders during one of his solipsistic reflections why Li “insisted so much on possessing me”. It is a tired story and in the service of men that we wish to withdraw.
Art of loving
Rated R for graphic sexual content, nudity, and some language. In Spanish and English, with subtitles. Duration: 1h56. In theaters and available for rental or purchase on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay-TV operators.
