Only You Review: Director Harry Wootliff delivers an incredibly authentic examination of life and love with stellar performances by Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa.
When we think of Scotland’s relationship with the silver screen – from drug-infused Trainspotting, Filth, and Beats to Calibre‘s brutality – cinema hasn’t exactly painted a pretty picture of the scenic country. But Harry Wootliff’s latest is a nice counterpoint, setting Glasgow as the backdrop for his heart-wrenching and sobering romantic drama Only You.
After a chance encounter one New Year’s, Jake (Josh O’Connor) and Elena (Laia Costa) quickly become lovers; they share an intimate relationship before deciding they want to try for a child – their friends around them all starting up families of their own. However, as they struggle to conceive time and time again, they find the hardship starting to take its toll on their individual lives and on their relationship, leading them to doubt their love.
It’s this simple narrative that paves the way for a wholly intoxicating slice of life; Only You is an authentic, raw look at love and a couple desperate for more – punctuated by realistic, flinty dialogue and such a believable, complex relationship at the centre of it all. Costa and O’Connor are excellent; their chemistry is palpable and they disappear into their roles – elevating them from characters to real people that could very well exist next door to me and I’d be inclined to believe you. Their characters are complex, relatable and, most importantly, flawed; Wootliff doesn’t try to create an idealistic relationship but rather one that feels genuine – and he succeeds. We care for them and their love because of how honest it all feels.
In a way that feels akin to a Kenneth Lonergan or Ken Loach joint, Only You is cinema that doesn’t embellish reality but rather co-exists with it. There’s almost something intrusive about watching this; it has a “fly on the wall” nature to it as if we’re observing something that is actually happening that we perhaps shouldn’t be – which is the biggest compliment I can give Wootliff’s writing and direction. Despite a somewhat frenetic first act that takes a little time to find its footing and establish the relationship, Only You is an incredible examination of life and love through the lens of a couple dealing with some truly heartbreaking hardships. With superb characters at its core and a story so astutely realised, it’s hard not to get swept up by the subliminal direction, unflashy performances and gut-punching emotion of it all. This is cinema at its finest: poetic, utterly authentic and yet completely monolithic.
Only You was reviewed at the Sydney Film Festival by Awais Irfan, June 2019.
Only You opens in cinemas on 12 July 2019.
