A Rock Opera Without the Music

While every romantic comedy in some small way relies on the audience’s romantic history, “Puccini for Beginners” hinges even more closely on what viewers bring to the table in the ways of love and loss. At its center is not just a story about the euphoria and bitterness of love, or the foibles of the dating game, but a sense of sexual confusion that accompanies a loss of sexual identity.It’s a state of confusion that writer-director Maria Maggenti depicts in terms of both sexual orientation — creating three female characters who are attracted to both sexes — as well as sexual agenda, posing the question of what these women ultimately want out of sex and love. Is it to find comfort, stability, excitement, or simply release?In this way, the self-deprecating title seems apt: All this is opera for beginners, a drama unfolding among those who aren’t quite sure what part they play in the larger scheme of things.We have the hero of the fiasco, Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser), who tries to protect herself from love’s pains by detaching sex from love, love from affection, and affection from her need for a stable social circle. She may or may not be in love with Samantha (Julianne Nicholson), who one day becomes fed up with waiting for Allegra to come to her senses and storms out, returning to her old boyfriend who has asked her to fly away with him on business.Meanwhile, Allegra meets Philip (Justin Kirk), a man more her type — intellectual and Ivy League-educated. He’s a professor at Columbia and the longtime boyfriend of Grace (Gretchen Mol), who now sits across from him silently at restaurants, their relationship mired in familiarity and routines. It’s when Grace and Allegra meet randomly on the street one day that the melodrama accelerates. Allegra, attracted sexually to both Philip and Grace, becomes the cause of their breakup, and as she tosses back and forth between boyfriend and girlfriend, she finds herself occupying different positions in the many relationships. With Philip, she’s vulnerable; with Grace, she’s confident; with Samantha, she’s still desperate to restore the passion.These rapid jumps between gender lines and relationships would no doubt feel forced and artificial — and possibly even offensive for gay audiences — if not for the acute dialogue that helps us understand the deeper conflicts rumbling within these hearts. While the film’s surface feels like a classic, lightweight, even sitcom-oriented comedy, “Puccini for Beginners” travels into more interesting territory with its refreshingly complicated depiction of personal transformation.Most of today’s romantic films, both gay and straight, are mired in idiot plots, rushed revelations, and miraculous transformations that speed things toward a happy ending. When the filmmakers require tension, arbitrary tragedies or misunderstandings befall their characters, and when the ending is near, the clouds part just as quickly. But despite the rushed prelude and sweet final act of “Puccini”(Ms. Maggenti divides her story into three acts and an epilogue), very little seems forced or contrived about the destiny of this distorted love triangle.These are not characters beaten about by the whims of a filmmaker, but smart people lost in the second- and triple-guessing of people who are worried their lives are veering off-course, forced into turbulent situations by their own questioning of whether they are truly happy or just faking it. The story will likely play better for audiences who relate to the setting, namely urban audiences aware of the contradictions of the city, where the happy cross paths with the heartbroken on a daily basis and where someone can still feel lonely amid the hustle and bustle of America’s biggest urban jungle.Indeed, Allegra is constantly questioning herself, observing other couples sitting nearby, getting advice from strangers. Her conversations with her homosexual friends uncover the same misery and confusion evident in her heterosexual relationship, only more amplified. Samantha leaves Allegra and returns to a relationship with a man, Grace seems capable of falling in love with both Allegra and Philip, and Allegra herself seems able to find fulfillment in both camps. Sexual orientation is not the issue — gay or straight, young or old, newlyweds or seniors, we are all on the same quest for completeness.No, “Puccini for Beginners” is not groundbreaking, brilliant, or, given its soap opera dimensions, entirely believable. In terms of pure formula, we’ve seen messes like this before, as two couples break up, tears are shed, and five hearts hang in the balance. But what’s notable about “Puccini” is that the drama is less about the mess than about the small group of confused, lonely people trying to clean it up. Unlike with so many romances, Ms. Maggenti does not ask us to take anything on faith — i.e. the characters’ emotions, affections, or relationships — but provides us an inside view of their introspection. We’re not waiting for the kiss heard ’round the world to let us know that everything will be okay, but merely the moment when Allegra is finally comfortable in her own skin.So perhaps opera isn’t the best point of comparison after all. Opera is about exaggerations and flourishes, while “Puccini for Beginners” is more about the small steps toward self-discovery. Pop philosophy is probably a better category for this tale of wounded hearts, about the convoluted crossroads where the naïve notion of love meets the more complicated issues of sex, sexuality, intimacy, and self-worth.Those who have confronted such questions will note a hint of cynicism in the story’s epilogue, a suggestion that these deeper questions aren’t things that can easily be answered and that no matter how much we may think we’ve changed, we may only be running in place.

A Rock Opera Without the Music

A Rock Opera Without the Music

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