Two of Us 2019 Movie Review

『A Bond of Love Endured Through Silence and the Door Between』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Two of Us (Original title: Deux, 2019)
🌍 Country: 🇫🇷 France
🎞️ Genre: Romance / Drama / Queer Cinema
🗓️ Production & Release: 2019, Directed by Filippo Meneghetti
📺 Platform: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV (varies by country)

👩‍💼 Cast: Barbara Sukowa – Nina Dorn
Martine Chevallier – Madeleine Girard

🧩 In-Depth Story Exploration (Spoilers)

🌹 Secret Love in Old Age and the Tension of a Thriller

Two of Us portrays the relationship of two elderly women who have secretly shared a love for decades. The film goes beyond simply depicting a late-in-life queer romance, meticulously unfolding themes of the emotional prison built by secrecy, ignorance and interference from family, and a woman’s desperate fight for survival, all within the format of a thriller.

💞 The Paradox of Relationships: Depth of Love and the Burden of Concealment

The film begins by showing that Nina and Madeleine live across the hall from one another in the same apartment building but are, in fact, longtime lovers whose love transcends walls.

Concealed Bond: The two women move discreetly across the corridor to share their lives, hidden from the eyes of neighbors. Especially Madeleine, who has hidden her true identity from her children for decades. This symbolizes how, in a heteronormative society, revealing queer identity in old age comes with tremendous weight and risk.

Dream of Retirement: Nina and Madeleine plan to sell their apartments and move to the free city of Rome in order to live openly. This plan is their final chance at true liberation in the twilight of life, their one and only hope. However, Madeleine’s hesitation becomes the spark that ignites a tragic turn of events.

🩺 A Tragic Incident and ‘Emotional Imprisonment’

After an argument where Madeleine hesitates to come out to her children, she suddenly suffers a stroke that leaves her with aphasia and paralysis. This incident forces their relationship into the open.

• Isolation of Love: With her ability to speak lost, Madeleine can no longer tell her family the truth about her relationship with Nina.

• Nina’s Role Reversal: Overnight, Nina is demoted from closest partner to nothing more than the “kind neighbor lady”. Even near Madeleine’s bedside, she must avoid the suspicion of family. This reversal of roles inflicts immense pain on Nina. The more desperately she tries to help her lover, the more she is viewed with distrust.

🔒 Shift into a Thriller: Intrusion and Surveillance

When Madeleine returns home and a caregiver and her children (particularly daughter Anne) enter the apartment, the film shifts from romance drama into a “domestic thriller.”

• Nina’s Struggle: To stay by Madeleine’s side, Nina resorts to lies, secret intrusions, and surveillance, employing increasingly extreme measures. The apartment door’s small peephole serves as a symbolic device, representing Nina’s isolation and the watchful eyes of the outside world.

• Family’s Ignorance: Madeleine’s children dismiss her responses (such as eye contact that is only for Nina) as the “whims of a sick old woman.” They ignore her real desires and feelings. The film sharply critiques how family ignorance can itself be a form of violence that conceals truth and imprisons love. While they act believing it is for her best, what Madeleine truly wants is Nina’s presence.

• Madeleine’s Silent Performance: Martine Chevallier’s portrayal of Madeleine, paralyzed and aphasic, is remarkable. With only a silent body and eyes, she conveys anger, longing, frustration, and unwavering love for Nina, allowing the audience to deeply empathize with her emotional imprisonment.

🌈 Sexuality in Old Age and the Acknowledgment of Existence

Two of Us is one of the rare films to portray the love of older women, steering away from queer cinema clichés of tragic death or identity struggles of youth, opening a new horizon.

• Passion of Mature Love: The film naturally depicts the continued sexual desire and passion of elderly women, emphasizing that aging does not equal the disappearance of love and desire. Nina and Madeleine’s bond is a mix of decades of comfort and ongoing desire, a mature and realistic image of love.

• The Dilemma of Coming Out: The film deeply explores the dilemma of “late coming out.” For Madeleine, it is not only about telling the truth but also about potentially denying her family’s entire history as her children have known it. This reflects the complex psychology of queer parents who lived in secrecy to avoid the emotional fallout from their children.

🎬 Performances and the Art of Restraint

Two of Us combines the extraordinary performances of Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier with Meneghetti’s delicate direction, crafting the most human love story in the form of a tense thriller. It is both moving and sharp.

🎯 Personal Rating (Preference)

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★