Opening this year’s Berlinale is another star-studded American ensemble, this time from festival regular Rebecca Miller who writes and directs this enjoyable, though sometimes predictable fare with solid performances from all involved.
Peter Dinklage leads as composer Steven who is going through a bad bout of writer’s block. He’s also knowingly socially awkward, often struggling to make eye contact with those he meets. This is modern-day New York, Brooklyn specifically where Steven lives with therapist wife Patricia (Anne Hathaway), who battles OCD and more than a passing interest in becoming a nun. A chance meeting and a subsequent one-night stand with worldly tug boat captain Katrina (an impressive Maria Tomei) put the spark back into his music writing and he manages to finish his opera, the final product hitting the right notes with critics and audiences alike.
There’s also Patricia’s son and Steven’s stepson Julien (Evan Ellison), a promising 18-year-old with his whole life ahead of him who has fallen for the slightly younger Tereza (Harlow Jane), the two of them planning their own future together they approach leaving school. Tereza’s parents, cleaner mother Magdalena (Joanna Kulig) and stenographer/ battle reenactment fanatic stepfather Trey (Brian d’Arcy James) round out the other main characters and the film charts their journey with important life decisions and pure fate throwing up a series of often amusing situations throughout.
While an interesting choice to open the festival in Berlin this year, the many well-developed characters emerging from Miller’s script and the superb performances make this a worthwhile watch. Tomei is the standout as the lovable, though wayward Patricia, though Brian d’Arcy James’ Trey comes a close second as the law-abiding, supposed wannabee lawyer intent on over-parenting his stepdaughter. A late diversion in the plot displays his villainy with a decision impacting both families’ lives, and he’s a delight to watch in every scene he’s in.
The film is frequently funny, and slightly off-beat, and the tone does suffer and sway. It is quirky, and slowly draws the viewer in, the likable characters at the heart of the love story, as well as constant humour delivered by Hathaway in easily her best performance of late, and I include the recent Sundance debuter Eileen in that. The story arcs do become a little predictable as the movie progresses, it all coming together just a little bit too nicely, but forgiveness always follows. Much like 2016’s Maggie’s Plan, which also premiered at the Berlinale, I got a lot from it. Not the strongest opener for a festival enjoying a full-strength affair for the first time in three years, but not one to feel out of place either.
She Came To Me was reviewed at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. It has been picked up for distribution in the UK and Ireland by Sky Cinema and will be released on a date TBC.
She Came To Me
Summary
A decent romantic comedy/ drama with strong screenplay by Miller and solid performances from its cast.
