The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

The premise is a ridiculous one, but it could have worked. A struggling widow meets a man who looks exactly like her late husband. The husband’s role and the new man’s role are played by the same actor, so we understand Nikki’s (Annette Bening) shock and amazement when she accidentally runs into Tom Young (Ed Harris), an arts professor, five years after the death of her husband Garret (Ed Harris again) in Mexico. She is hesitant at first, but eventually decides to pursue a relationship with him. She comes across as a complete lunatic of course, completely breaking down and sobbing in front of the professor upon their first meeting, and yet a romantic plot strand is forced upon them, and so onto the audience too.

Bening is without doubt at her best when she is mourning for her dead husband. As her character progresses, we get hints of how mentally unstable Nikki may be: constantly referring to Tom as Garret, and wanting to recapture the moments she once shared with her husband. These acts of desperation are sad to watch of course, especially when so movingly captured by Bening, but what blossoms between Nikki and Tom is so preposterous and farcical that it is difficult to take any aspect of this seriously.

Tom is essentially cast aside as a redundant character, and the more the film tries to make the romance between the two work, the more unbearable it becomes. It could have been a sweet premise, but with such poorly defined characters confessing their love for one another at the most random moments, even the coupling of Bening and Harris cannot sell it.

It gets more interesting when Nikki’s daughter gets involved, but even this does not last long enough. The late Robin Williams is in a thankless role as the friend-zoned neighbour of Nikki, a fellow widower. And the less that is said about the horrendous ending, that brings together Nikki and Tom’s ex-wife Ann (Amy Brenneman), the better.