Sylvie's Love had a high score on Rotten Tomatoes and took place in the embarrassingly romantic setting of 1960s New York City and these are things I didn't hate about it. Actually, there were many things I didn't hate about it. It was sweet and tender and evocative.
Zanna told me the next day that the male lead, Nnamdi Asomugha, had played 11 years in the NFL. I was shocked to hear that, because the percentage of sports stars making the successful transition to art movie star is zero, and Asomugha really was a star - a four-time NFL all-star cornerback and one-time team captain of the Oakland Raiders.
Why do so few sports stars go on to art movie success? The issue, I think, is that sports stars by and large have a conception of themselves that doesn't involve acting in art movies. They are suffering from a deficit of openness.
I bring this up because I've been thinking recently about the idea of openness in works of art, particularly films. Is a movie open or closed to interpretation? Does it tell you what to think or does it let you think for yourself? Generally, critics prefer the open work, the story that leaves space for the audience to do some work, although the audience doesn't always prefer that.
Sylvie's Love is very much a closed story. You are given all the requisite information and the questions at the centre of the story - not very complicated in the first place - are neatly resolved and everyone goes home happy. What I mean by this is that Zanna went home happy. What I mean by that is I went home happy.
SHE SAW
I wouldn't say the main reason I suggested Sylvie's Love was because I'd heard it had Bridgerton hottie Rege-Jean Page in it. It was a reason but certainly not the main one. I mean, it was a strong deciding factor but less important than, okay equal to, all right slightly more significant than, the fact we wanted to watch a romance for Valentine's Day weekend.
I love a good romance. Greg claims he does too but we have never, not once, sat down to watch a love story together that he's enjoyed and frankly, watching a romance with a scoffing couch-mate sucks all the joy out of it. Surprisingly though, Greg did very little audible eye-rolling during the movie, which is probably the highest praise he could give any romance.
Sylvie's Love is a classic Hollywood love story, minus the misogyny. Set in late-1950s and early-1960s Harlem, New York, it tells the story of an aspiring television producer, Sylvie, who falls in love with a jazz saxophonist, Robert. But … she's already engaged to a wealthy, high-society fella and Robert's a lowly jazz musician from Detroit. It's the archetypal tale of forbidden love.
Shot primarily on sound stages in Los Angeles, the film has the aesthetic of a 50s Hollywood classic - glossy and romantic. It's with purpose that film-maker Eugene Ashe has made a classic Hollywood romance with an all Black cast - Black film-makers (and actors) haven't been afforded that opportunity in the past. Contemporary Black stories have often focused on the pain and suffering of being Black in America and Ashe has expressed a desire to instead tell stories of Black humanity and joy.
The soundtrack is a big part of what makes the world of this film so pleasant to spend close to two hours in. It's loaded with 50s classics like See You Later, Alligator, The Nearness of You, You Send Me and Tears on my Pillow. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I'm listening to it right now.
After watching the film, while we brushed our teeth, Greg made the outrageous claim that it should've finished about 10 minutes earlier, at a point which would've given it an ambiguous ending and removed the genre's most critical moment: the-big-swing-romantic-gesture-and-declaration-of-undying-love. Sometimes I wonder about his emotional intelligence. Thankfully, unlike my husband, Ashe knows how to give an audience what it wants: aspirational, unachievable, soulmate-style love perfection. The kind of love that's void of everyday monotony and gross bodily functions - a love just like ours ... mine and Rege-Jean Page's.
Sylvie's Love is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video
