Filippo Meneghetti

Filippo Meneghetti has crafted an elegant, sophisticated narrative in Two of Us. In contrast to lesbian stories centering on young women, co-writers Meneghetti and Malysone Bovorasmy present two widows, Mado and Nina, both in their seventies. They’ve been lovers for two decades, but secretly because of Mado’s fear of her daughter Anne’s and son Frederic’s reactions.

Filippo Meneghetti rarely takes a wrong emotional turn with this story of long-time female lovers who are able to keep their relationship on the down-low given their living circumstances. The sweet-natured widow Madeline (Martine Chevallier) is able to hide the fact that she and the much more brazen and younger Nina are a couple since they dwell in adjacent domiciles on the top floor of an apartment building.

Without melodrama, the film shows the emotional cost of hiding a loving relationship. Two of Us delivers a rare and restrained portrait of enduring love, especially between women of a certain age, right up to its devastatingly, moving final frame.