By Tyler Gibson

Three adults sit forlornly at a bar. The camera gracefully zooms in on them as we hear a passionate debate off-camera perceiving their relationship. This masterful directorial decision immediately cements filmmaker Celine Song as a naturally assured storyteller, all the more impressive given this is her debut. To ponder is to examine space and distance, to note what isn’t being said and below the surface. Past Lives is a film about the finite, limitless expanse of love. Love is a contradictory sensation that both suspends and transcends time. The characters confront this notion, and the stunning camerawork from DP Shabier Kirchner illuminates and captures the delirium with the force of a current wave—long panning shots paired with breathtaking silhouettes. The performers are blocked and arranged in these sequences, adrift and distant within the frame, wonderfully complimenting the screenplay’s penchant for patience and anxious rumination.

A love triangle is depicted at the center, yet there’s no urge to devolve into overblown clashes and melodrama. Greta Lee portrays unwavering resolve as a 30-year-old writer in a cozy relationship who must make amends with the girl she was at ten and the relationships she crafted out of love. Her face holds so much yearning. Equally fabulous is her quiet husband, played with carefully moderated gusto by John Magaro. With knowingly underplayed humor and posture, his stunning performance casually and wisely satirizes the impotence a more cowardly film would strike him with.

It’s a heartbreaking tonal achievement. Past Lives culminates with a shattering parallel match cut, offering the painful yet haunting closure only the most profound relationships can offer. [A-]