The Face of Love

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Arie Posin directs. Antonio Riestra behind the camera. Marcelo Zarvos scores. Matt Maddox cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Earned back only 9% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 3Released 13 years ago.
• 4Directed by Arie Posin, shot by Antonio Riestra. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Marcelo Zarvos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Matt Maddox shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Annette Bening and Ed Harris and Robin Williams carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "She lost her perfect love... until she found his perfect double.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt1839642 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Antonio Riestra

Original score

Marcelo Zarvos

Editing

Matt Maddox

Production design

Jeannine Oppewall

Costume design

Judianna Makovsky

Makeup / hair

Cheri Minns

Stunt coordinator

Doug Coleman

Runtime

92 min · 1h 32m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$4,000,000

Box office

$350,006

Return

9% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG-13

IMDB

The Face of Love (2013) ↗

Also by

Arie Posin

• 
  The In Between

  2022 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Chumscrubber

  2005 · ★ 6.5

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Face Of Love Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Ed Harris, Annette Bening Movie HD

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• tmdb280390232022-08-27
  ★ 1/10

  I never thought I’d use the term Idiot Plot to refer to a film starring Annette Bening, Ed Harris, and Robin Williams, but then I’d never watched The Face of Love. Nikki (Bening) is a widow who is still pining for her dead husband Garrett (Ed Harris) five years after he drowned on a beach in Mexico. One day she meets Tom (also Harris), who looks so much like her late husband – complete with the exact same tone of voice and male pattern baldness – that the only possible explanation is that Garrett and Tom were twins separated at birth (I would also accept cloning, at least as the movies usually (mis)understand it). The movie, however, offers no explanation for the fact that Tom is a perfect replica – down to each and every single wrinkle – of Garrett (or viceversa), other than “you know what they say. We all have a double somewhere in the world.” Nikki becomes romantically involved with Tom, but never even bothers to mention his uncanny resemblance to her defunct spouse. Why not? It would be the perfect icebreaker, and Tom would know it’s not just a pick-up line as soon as Nikki shows her a picture of Garrett. She is also concerned, more reasonably so given the circumstances, by what people, especially her daughter Summer (Jess Weixler) and neighbor Roger (Williams), might think about her dating someone who appears to be an alternate reality version of Garrett. This actually leads me to believe that TFoL would have worked better as a comedy, with Nikki going out of her way to talk Tom into an extreme makeover – the movie, nevertheless, is hell-bent on being a drama, and in that sense it would have been well advised to have Tom played by an actor who isn’t Harris but can reasonably pass for him (John Malkovich, maybe?). Given the quality and credentials of the stars, I have no choice but to point an accusatory finger at director Arie Posin and co-writers Posin and Matthew McDuffie, who manage to get wrong even what they get right; case in point, Williams gives the film’s best performance in what is essentially a throwaway role – one would have expected Roger, who was Garrett’s friend and has feelings for Nikki, to at least attempt to drive a wedge between the lovers, but he and Tom never even come face to face (again, if this were a comedy, and I’m more and more convinced it should have been one, Roger would have gone to hilarious extremes to shape himself in Garrett’s/Tom’s likeness to win Nikki over. Oh well).

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Mockingbird Pictures

  US

Key crew

• EditorMatt Maddox
• ProducerJulie Lynn
• ProducerBonnie Curtis
• Art DirectionLisa Clark
• Production DesignJeannine Oppewall
• Assistant Property MasterRudy Reachi
• StuntsKatie Rowe
• Costume DesignJudianna Makovsky
• StuntsEliza Coleman
• Stunt CoordinatorDoug Coleman
• Second Unit DirectorDoug Coleman
• Makeup ArtistCheri Minns
• Makeup Department HeadValli O'Reilly
• Makeup ArtistKris Evans
• HairstylistDiana Acrey
• Executive ProducerBenjamin Castellano-Wood
• Executive ProducerTheresa Castellano-Wood
• Executive ProducerPaige Dunham
• Executive ProducerMaxine P. Lynn
• Executive ProducerJonathan McCoy
• Executive ProducerRuth Mutch
• Executive ProducerAmy Lynn Quinn
• Executive ProducerAmy Ware
• CastingHeidi Levitt

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• widow
• finding love
• middle age

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2014-03-07PG-13

Also known as

International titles

• 페이스 오브 러브KR
• The Face of Love - Liebe hat viele GesichterDE
• La mirada del amorAR