To die for

Two Lovers

Crit

Who among us has not been one or more of the following:

• A, needily in love with B;
• B, needily in love with C, but stringing along A with a simulacrum of romantic interest;
• C, needily in love with D, but stringing along B with the old "my new best friend" shtick;
• D, possibly in love with C, but in any case married to and parent of other unspecified letters, and unlikely to leave them.

This is about the saddest of what my daughter and son-in-law call Sad Bastard Movies: it begins with the protagonist, B (Joaquin Phoenix, in his ostensibly final film role), making at least his second inept suicide attempt and ends with him contemplating suicide but opting instead for something even more self-abnegating.