LFF: What Is Love

A woman, who appears happy to live alone, attends a family reunion. A husband and wife argue that he’s spending too much time at work. A priest is at prayer. On the night shift, a worker goes through her routine in a pristine factory. A Christian couple present a united front to their children, though they quibble in therapy. Ruth Mader’s contemplation of relationships between families, husbands and wives or with God, taking place in different strata of society, makes for an exquisite film. Her static camera captures these five episodes and their environments with composed elegance, presenting curious, honest and intimate slices of modern life, scenes that are often insightful, emotive or amusing. The film’s title is tellingly without a question mark, and while it would be difficult to argue it provides a definitive answer to what love is, What is Love suggests it can be something that is beautifully mundane. (Michael Hayden)