SLEEPLESS IN NEW YORK

Swiss Oscar-Nominated Director Christian  Frei’s new documentary is his well-meaning attempt to investigate the power of love and how to survive once you lose it.  With the involvement of Dr Helen Fisher PhD a Biological Anthropologist and Professor at Rutgers (and the author of 5 books on ‘romantic love’) Frei follows three love-lorn people as they attempt to put their lives together after being un-ceremoniously dumped.

He plastered New York with flyers about this project asking for volunteers and Alley Scott one of the people, literally called him on the third night after her boyfriend of three years walked out on her. Another broken heart was Michael Hariton a freelance Translator who fell apart after his girlfriend told him she wanted out. The third participant that Frei chose was Rosey La Rouge a burlesque dancer who had put her life on hold waiting for her ‘One Night Stand’ to come back after he had declared his undying love during their quickie behind the Shark Tank during the annual Mermaids Parade (and believe me, I did not make that last part up).

It was fine to hear Dr Fisher’s well researched theories on the power of love which for the whole made a great deal of sense, it was therefore rather disappointing that Frei had chosen as his subjects three whiny pathetic and morose self-absorbed individuals who stretched one’s patience way too far. Your sympathies totally lay with their lucky ex partners who got away.

I can only assume that their decision to participate in this film showing them in such a poor light was part of their desire to be able to continue to indulge in self pity as they were running out of willing listeners. This is ‘sharing’ way too much that none of us needs. Hariton in fact spent most of his cello lesson carping on to his teacher about how bad his ex treated him (although he still craved her back). Luckily for him as this is NY, even music teachers can pontificate like a therapist.

Dr Fisher declared that we often love someone more after been rejected and this she termed as ‘frustration attraction.’  None of them however heeded a single one of Dr Fisher’s theories like that love was an addiction like alcohol and in the same way if you were recovering from the latter you would not keep a bottle of liquor in the house, then you should throw out all your exes photos and letters. Frei allowed his three subjects  to narrate their own scenes as they sat around their apartments cyber stalking their exes and spouting out such mots of wisdom like (Hareton) ‘Why won’t she call me to tell me not to call?’   Exactly. 

I do subscribe to a theory that a reaction to any movie we view is subjective to the mood we feel at that time.  On that basis maybe to really ‘enjoy’ all this wallowing in self-pity, one should watch this movie the moment your present/next lover leaves. That is instead of getting drunk and laid which was the sound advice given to these three by their friends and which they sadly chose to ignore. 

★★★★