What would you do if someone who looked exactly like your old boyfriend, someone who even had the same name, suddenly turned up on the doorstep? Given this startling reminder of a true love now fifteen years past, would you embark on a passionate affair with the much younger man? Yes, if you’re Laura Linney and the doppelganger is Topher Grace. Such is the premise for a disarming romantic drama in which an unfulfilled Mrs Robinson is deeply unsettled by the arrival of the aforementioned student. Compounding the problem is her best friend (Marcia Gay Harden) who broke up the first relationship and is intent on doing it again. 

The thorny issue of reincarnation is not the point, it’s the nub for a story of fatalism, desire and, in part, revenge. While there are many seductive elements, director Dylan Kidd (acerbic in Roger Dodger) seems uncertain about where to take the story. The writing is crisp, Linney is strong and Grace grounds the film in a mature, measured performance. The intimacy between these characters is mechanically honest, lending their sex-scenes a welcome vibrancy. Yet the film stalls every time supporting characters make an appearance. As Linney’s ex-husband, Gabriel Byrne wanders in an underwritten role while Gay Harden makes stagey mincemeat of nearly every scene she’s in. Linney is charged with a thankless, and hopeless task of bridging these incongruent halves. 

Nonetheless, elegant camerawork and Kidd’s sympathetic treatment creates a generally pleasing film that won’t change your world any more than it will ruin your day.

// COLIN FRASER