Last Love

Quiet and melancholy with some sporadic sugar, “Last Love” holds your attention with bouts of fly-on- the- wall realism but doesn’t dig deep enough to make a lasting impression.

Based on the novel by Francoise Dorner , and helmed by Sandra Nettelbeck “Last Love” follows widower, Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) a sullen, retired professor shuffling around Paris since the loss of his wife. He’s unsatisfied, lonely and on the brink of ending it all until he strikes up an unexpected friendship with a spirited dance instructor, Pauline (Clémence Poésy).

The cast is outstanding, and Justin Kirk and Gillian Anderson inject a jolt of energy into the pic with their sudden arrival but inadvertently flip the tone; thankfully, it doesn’t collapse the story as much as it shakes up the perspective

Nettelbeck barely grazes the surface on the subject of grief and the nuances of love, but wrangles together tidbits of insightful moments as Morgan occasionally pontificates on life to and with Pauline. It makes the movie worth a go, especially with the great actors on board, but don’t expect any earth shattering revelations or mind blowing drama; it’s touching but almost too polite to shake out anything real.