‘Ordinary Love’ review – Honest account of dealing with cancer

Ordinary Love is about love, heartache, companionship and life’s challenges – and while the acting is both effortless and touching the underlying theme is sad and depressing.

Lesley Manville plays Joan, a middle-age woman who discovers a lump in her breast after a shower and shares this finding with her loving husband Tom, played by the unshaven Liam Neeson whose broad Irish accent is at times difficult to follow.

Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville in ‘Ordinary Love’. Picture: Bleecker Street

She soon discovers she has breast cancer, a signal for the movie to shift gears and go into tremendous detail as the disease eats into their lives.

Their relationship is sorely tested as she undergoes severe treatment. Hours of chemotherapy, the gradual loss of hair, and being violently sick are elements that drive this movie.

At the end, Ordinary Love resembles a step-by-step warning message about cancer.

Lesley Manville in ‘Ordinary Love’. Picture: Bleecker Street

A gay couple, Steve (Amit Shah) and Peter (David Wilmot), with the latter already in an advanced stage, is briefly introduced, providing another aspect of having to deal with the disease.

The production is honest with a no-holds-barred attitude and one needs applaud the filmmakers for producing this extreme exercise in being vigilant about one’s health.

Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson in ‘Ordinary Love’. Picture: Bleecker Street

Info

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Cast: Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Amit Shah, David Wilmot, Lalor Roddy
Director: Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn
Classification: 13 DNS

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