THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS: A Struggle to Remain Together

Robert Machoian‘s The Killing of Two Lovers opens on the verge of its titular act. The long-haired and bearded husband, David (Clayne Crawford), is about to shoot his wife Niki (Sepideh Moafi) and her recent lover Derek (Chris Coy) who are asleep on the bed. But Derek pulls back and returns to his father’s house without committing the crime. At first, what seems like a noir-ish tale of love, lust, and betrayal aimed at switching on our detective faculties, in actuality turns out to be a drama about marital discord and the husband’s attempts at reconciliation.

Niki isn’t technically cheating on David. Both spouses have taken a “break” from each other and are allowed to date other people. The predicament is that David wants this break to end, whereas Niki seems to be heading for a divorce. He tries hard to keep his family life together by taking her out on drives or spending quality time with his children. But the growing insecurity and anxiety get to him time and again as he vents out his frustration while he is away from his family.

Getting the Technicalities Right

Every time David is on his own, he is accompanied by an eerie background score that threatens impending danger. It is the riveting sound design by Peter Albrechtsen that makes David’s state of mind palpable. By amplifying the ambient sound and the heavy vibrating engine noise of David’s truck, it becomes evident that David is a time bomb waiting to explode.

Machoian transmits the emptiness felt by David by creating a gloomy and grim atmosphere amid the surrounding Western Utah landscapes. The desolate environment and the gigantic mountains in the background dwarf David’s outbursts of anguish, rendering his helplessness insignificant. Cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jimenez‘s employment of wide-angle shots and several long takes in the open, make some of the frames look like landscape paintings. The sprinkling of light hues of pink in the sky adds to the beauty of some external shots and complements the tender moments of joy experienced by David while playing with his kids.

All significant characters have been fleshed out properly including David and Niki’s teenage daughter Jess (Avery Pizzuto) who is distraught at the idea of their parents splitting up. Machoian keeps an air of mystery around the character of Derek, up until the later stages of the film, by not revealing too much about him. Also, like in Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story, not much is revealed here about the reasons leading to the discord between the once-in-love couple. Machoian deserves credit for inverting the narrative expectations we have from the film towards the end, as he avoids clichés and conventional melodrama.

Conclusion

Overall, The Killing of Two Lovers is worthy of one’s time and demands little patience for its broody pace. The mature writing and the wise handling of the dynamics between David and Niki deserve to be appreciated in this first solo feature by Robert Machoian (Machoian co-directed three prior ones with Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck). There is some good humor between David and his small kids who don’t seem to enjoy his jokes always. Clayne Crawford and Sepideh Moafi‘s performances elevate this somber and restrained drama. If not for anything else, one should watch The Killing of Two Lovers for its painterly visuals and jarring sound score.

Have you seen The Killing of Two Lovers? What did you think? We want to know!

The Killing of Two Lovers opens in theaters on May 14, 2021, in the U.S., and on June 18, 2021, in the U.K.

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