In the late 1950s, a couple living in the state of Virginia in the USA decide to get married. Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred (Ruth Negga) should be looking forward to a long and happy life together, but he is white and she is black. Despite going to Washington DC to get married, they are still arrested back in their home state for breaking the Virginian anti-miscegenation laws. What follows is their struggle to stay together in the location of their choosing, a fight that goes all the way to the supreme court.
Cue, you might think, big emotional speeches and grandstanding court scenes leading up to an emotional climax. Loving, however, isn’t like that at all. It is a film of small moments and small battles. In some way, not taking the story down the expected route is refreshing, especially with the superbly understated performances by the two leads to the fore. It is, also, the film’s biggest weakness. It moves at such a stately pace at times, covering a ten year period of the couple’s lives in a very leisurely manner.
That has the effect of dissipating some of the tension, and causing the narrative to lose a bit of focus. As important as this true life ruling turned out to be, and as disgusting as some of the racist law authorities were, it does appear that after the initial furore, the couple were able to live peacefully for many years before the supreme court made their decision. At the same time, at two hours, the story feels stretched, with not enough dramatic incidents to justify that running time.
Edgerton and Negga keep the story afloat though, helped by good work by Will Dalton, Bill Camp, and Nick Kroll in supporting roles. I am still agnostic about the writer / director Jeff Nichols’ work – aside from the excellent Mud – who despite being a critics favourite regularly fails to fully engage me in his stories.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10