An adorable film by writer-director Susanna Fogel, "Life Partners" stars Leighton Meester and Gillian Jacobs as Sasha and Paige, a pair of best friends. This friendship is tested by the duo's increasingly diverging personalities; Paige is a hard-working conformist, Sasha is a lackadaisical lesbian and artist. Sasha accuses Pagie of changing, of betraying who she is, of becoming just another staid automaton, whilst Paige accuses Sasha of being directionless, lazy and afraid of growing up.
At first glance, "Life Partners" resembles Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World". In that film, two best friends slowly drift apart, one becoming an artist who refuses to abide by the ways of the world, the other becoming a more traditional housewife, mother and wage-earner. A covertly political film, "Ghost World" ended with a gentle condemnation of late-capitalism's various social pressures.
In "Life Partners", though, both the artist (Sasha) and the conformist (Paige) learn to get with the programme. Here, "maturation" and "adulthood" are seen to be something to aspire to, and these aspirations are intimately bound to "work", nine-to-fives and the imposition of certain identities in order to maximise efficiency. Aware of this, director Susanna Fogel attempts to make her cast somewhat edgy, Paige an environmentalist and Sasha a musician. But like most modern films about non-heteronormatives ("The Kids are all Right", "Transamerica", "Dallas Buyer's Club" etc), diversity is still ultimately doublespeak for ideological conformity.
As a film about friendship, ageing and the anxieties of the young, "Life Partners" is mostly excellent. Fogel's dialogue zips by, and Meester and Jacobs, with their expressive faces, are mesmerising, cute and convey well the joys of friendship and the insecurities of being a young adult. By treating Sasha's homosexuality as no big deal, the film normalises homosexuality far better than most other films which try to ennoble the LGBT community.
8.5/10 - Worth two viewings. See "The Children's Hour" and "Running on Empty" (1988).
At first glance, "Life Partners" resembles Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World". In that film, two best friends slowly drift apart, one becoming an artist who refuses to abide by the ways of the world, the other becoming a more traditional housewife, mother and wage-earner. A covertly political film, "Ghost World" ended with a gentle condemnation of late-capitalism's various social pressures.
In "Life Partners", though, both the artist (Sasha) and the conformist (Paige) learn to get with the programme. Here, "maturation" and "adulthood" are seen to be something to aspire to, and these aspirations are intimately bound to "work", nine-to-fives and the imposition of certain identities in order to maximise efficiency. Aware of this, director Susanna Fogel attempts to make her cast somewhat edgy, Paige an environmentalist and Sasha a musician. But like most modern films about non-heteronormatives ("The Kids are all Right", "Transamerica", "Dallas Buyer's Club" etc), diversity is still ultimately doublespeak for ideological conformity.
As a film about friendship, ageing and the anxieties of the young, "Life Partners" is mostly excellent. Fogel's dialogue zips by, and Meester and Jacobs, with their expressive faces, are mesmerising, cute and convey well the joys of friendship and the insecurities of being a young adult. By treating Sasha's homosexuality as no big deal, the film normalises homosexuality far better than most other films which try to ennoble the LGBT community.
8.5/10 - Worth two viewings. See "The Children's Hour" and "Running on Empty" (1988).