After Love (2021)

Joanna Scanlan is really good here. She is "Mary", a British woman who converted to Islam to better share her life with her husband "Ahmed" whose family hailed from Pakistan. She is desolate when he unexpectedly dies, but discovers he had a secret second family - in France. Determined to meet them, she travels to their home, but her garb leads "Geneviève" (Nathalie Richard) to think she is but their agency cleaning lady. "Mary" plays along as the woman and her teenage son "Solomon" (Farid Ariss) are about to move house. What now becomes clear is that the young man misses his father, has a lively relationship with his mother and well, he too, has his own secret - one that "Mary" discovers as she finds herself drawn into the life of this complicated duo. The production is simple, the story has a straightforward, uncomplicated chronology and the narrative itself is remarkably non-judgmental. It is a story about grief, sure, but it is also one about deceit, about hope and about human nature, anger and affection. All three performances are solid with so much of the delivery from Scanlon based around her expressions, her silences and her mannerisms. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel at the end for all of them. The religiosity of the theme adds richness, but it isn't essential - this could be a story about any family where the unexpected sheds light on the unimaginable, and it is delivered with a classy and poignant style.