E all'improvviso arriva l'amore

Director/screenwriter Rebecca Miller has fashioned quite a quirky relationship roundelay in this 2023 dramedy as she focuses on a dumbfounding love triangle saved from complete absurdity by the dexterity of the three leads. The plot is convoluted. Stephen Lauddem is a famous composer with writer's block who sleeps with Katrina, a shopworn tugboat captain with a sex addiction, and then writes a celebrated opera about their fast affair. Stephen is married to Patricia, a beautiful Manhattan therapist with OCD and a strange obsession with nuns. There's a parallel story of Patricia's son who is in love with the underaged daughter of the family maid whose husband is hellbent on breaking up the relationship. All the story strands come together but don't emotionally resonate nearly as much as they should. Miller seems more preoccupied with the characters' eccentricities. The star performances compensate. Peter Dinklage plays Stephen with jaundiced charm, while Anne Hathaway shows off a welcome edginess to Patricia. Marisa Tomei conveys a convincing lived-in approach to Katrina that helps ground the movie's somewhat flighty tone.