Our Lovers

Carlos, a screenwriter whose wife has asked for a two-month separation, meets Irene in a bookshop cafe. They set rules: no names, no past, no falling in love. How long the rules hold is the film's only question. Miguel Angel Lamata wrote and directed. Eduardo Noriega plays Carlos, Michelle Jenner plays Irene, with Amaia Salamanca, Fele Martinez and Gabino Diego. Carlos's professional crisis is where the film talks about itself: he and his partner turn out serialised popular comedies while he wants to write a serious drama. The film uses that bind as a joke aimed at its own genre. The dialogue is thick with references to classic Hollywood romantic comedy, and the characters talk like people who have read and watched a great deal, which the director defended as a deliberate choice. It is built almost entirely from two-handers. Who it is for: anyone curious about talky, referential Spanish romantic comedy. Who it is not for: viewers wanting naturalism; the lines read as written text rather than speech.