Synopsis for
Two Lovers (2008) Plus avec IMDbPro »

Two Lovers is a romantic drama set in New York City. It tells the story of Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), an attractive but depressed young man who moves back in with his parents following a recent heartbreak. An aspiring photographer, Leonard works part-time at his father's dry-cleaners. His concerned parents try to set him up with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the sweet and caring daughter of a close family friend. A big family dinner serves as their introduction and Leonard arranges to see her again. Then late one night Leonard looks out his bedroom window and notices a ravishing young woman he's never seen before. Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) recently moved into an apartment in his family's building - an apartment paid for by the wealthy married man she's seeing. -n-mouz

In this drama, a photographer named Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) is given the tough choice of choosing between two beauties. ... Full DescriptionHis neighbor Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) is also in the midst of an affair with a married man, while family friend Sandra (Vinessa Shaw, GARDEN PARTY) reveals she may be more than Leonard had previously thought. TWO LOVERS reunites Phoenix with his WE OWN THE NIGHT director, James Gray. James Gray, director of such hard-edged crime dramas as LITTLE ODESSA and THE YARDS, reveals the dark and unsettling complexities of love in his somber romantic drama, TWO LOVERS. Set against the gray winter backdrop of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the story centers on Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix), a depressed and sometimes suicidal bachelor trying to pick up the pieces of his life after a bad breakup. Living with his parents and helping out at the family dry-cleaning business, Leonard finds himself in an existence that, save for his dabbling in black-and-white photography, is ordinary and stifling. His parents, mother Ruth (Isabella Rossellini) and father Reuben (Moni Moshonov), hope that a merger with a lucrative business--run by a friend of Reubens with a pretty daughter, Sandra (Vinessa Shaw)--will spark a budding romance in Leonard. But their plan hits a snag when Leonard befriends Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), an alluring but emotionally needy blonde who struggles with her own desire for validation from a married man with whom she is having an affair. Phoenix is brilliant as the brooding and complex Leonard, an anti-hero caught between filial obligation and a longing for escape, who sees in Michelle a partner for his troubled soul. While TWO LOVERS can come off at times a bit unadorned and overly low-key, its great strength lies in its power to simply and honestly convey the muddled and awkward realities of love--a feat that could not be matched by 1000 generic Hollywood rom-coms. [D-Man2010]