Review: ‘The Killing of Two Lovers’ Renders the Agony of a Tumultuous Marital Split
The Killing of Two Lovers begins on a particularly ominous note. The first shot, held close and long, shows a woman sleeping in her bed. In the background out of focus, her partner rolls over as the early morning light comes in. Then, the film cuts to a man standing over the couple with a gun in a clear state of distress. Jittery and on edge, the camera holds until the sound of children in another room breaks the gunman’s attention and he retreats out the window, proceeding to walk down the street to a clanging and industrial score that makes known his severe inner turmoil.
In simple cinematic terms, Robert Machoian has set the table for his family drama, The Killing of Two Lovers. The foreboding opening suggests that we’re on the verge of something sinister, and as the narrative unfolds before us, one can’t help but wonder what will finally cause David, the aforementioned gunman, to boil over and cross the line.
How we arrived at this point comes after years of marriage to Nikki, the aforementioned woman. Wed fresh out of high school and with four kids between them, Nikki and David have reached a juncture where separating becomes a very real reality. To test the waters, they decide to take a break, but as Nikki begins a new relationship, David struggles to cope with what might be the future permanent state of their relationship.
Machoian’s drama leaves nobody unscathed. With a separation looming on the horizon, not only do Nikki and David flail with the new norm, but so do the kids, who are caught in the middle and become a weighty weapon against spouses. Though David is the most unstable of the two adults, the film goes to great lengths establishing his love for what he could lose: his kids. The normative lifestyle that comes with a unified household — seeing your kids before bed, walking them to school, what have you — is in jeopardy, and it truthfully what David values more than anything.
Leading up to the end, between outbursts of rage, verbal arguments, and searing jealously, there is a lurching feeling that something is going to go seriously wrong, but The Killing of Two Lovers doesn’t entertain notions of violent revenge. Instead, what comes to fruition is a passive resolve, one that doesn’t feel true to the drama laid before us nor the righteous outcome from the strained interpersonal relationships we’ve just observed. But then again, withholding such satisfactions may be the entire point of Machoian’s domestic drama.
