Deux

The French film Deux was shown in the U.S. with the title Two of Us (2019). It was co-written and directed by Filippo Meneghetti.

Barbara Sukowa portrays Nina Dorn, whose long-term lesbian lover is Madeleine (Mado) Girard. (Madeline is played by Martine Chevallier.) The women have remained closeted for all these years. They share adjoining apartments, so they can be together but not literally live together. Mado suffers a stroke, and the plot of the film follows from there.

Barbara Sukowa is a famed German actor, and she is superb in her role. (In the movie, she's originally from Germany, so her accented French is not a problem.) I wasn't familiar with Martine Chevallier, but she is well known in France for both movie and stage acting. She and Sukowa have a true screen chemistry, which makes the movie even better.

I enjoyed this movie because it gave a view of what it means to be closeted partners when you grow old. I felt a few of Nina's actions were uncharacteristic and not realistic within the context of the film. However, overall I found Deux to be very moving and powerful.

We saw Deux as part of the wonderful ImageOut, the Rochester LGBT Festival. (Virtual this year, but great as always.) Deux has a pretty good IMDb rating of 7.2. I thought it was better than that, and rated it 9.