Monday

By Joanna Langfield

Anyone catching this dramatic love story for the sizzle should be prepared for the oncoming singe.

We first meet Mickey and Chloe as they meet, introduced at an Athens club because, they are told, they are both American. We may know their names, but these two barely exchange that before they are arrested the next morning, naked on a beach. And it’s a go from there on. Even if Chloe is going back to a law job in Chicago. And even if Mickey, a frustrated musician, seems to only be able to get gigs as a part time DJ. But, who cares about all that when you have two gorgeous people, having gorgeous sex in gorgeous locations?

Clearly, writer/director Argyris Papdimitropoulous (and co-writer Rob Hayes) does. We want to root for these two and, for a while, we do. They are having, pardon the expression, a ball. And we want that to continue, as we see their relationship grow over a series of check ins which, we are told, happen on Fridays. But, real world stuff intervenes, even in the spectacularly sunny Greek Isles. And, suddenly, the carefree lovers reveal themselves as not so carefree after all.

Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough are both terrific, bringing a whole span of genuine emotions to the ambitious arc of this story. But I wish the episodic nature of the structure had allowed us to see more of the progression of the relationship, not just the bullet points. Perhaps the abrupt ending is purposeful, asking us to do the math as to why and where these two will go, but I found it jarring and, frankly, annoying.

Still, there’s some very interesting work here, with an admirable seriousness in its look at the complexities of love. And, if you’re not in it for all that, watching Stan and Gough and Greece is, in itself, not a bad way to spend a few hours.