More than two decades since their 1991 hit movie Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, it seems that the Richard Gomez-Dawn Zulueta love team still has quite a following, this time with The Love Affair.
I don’t follow CharDawn, which is what fans have termed the popular on-screen couple, so imagine my surprise at finding that seats for the 4.10pm screening at Dubai Mall on Friday were already sold out by 2pm. Luckily, I managed to book seats for the 9.40pm slot, which sold out at 6pm.
“I can’t believe we just paid for tickets to go through this torture. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of crying involved,” I told my movie partner. “How do you know?” she asked. “The Love Affair? A movie with that title can’t be all good news,” I thought to myself. So I came prepared with a wad of tissues in my pocket, just in case.
We were the second last group of people to enter the packed cinema, just before the commercials started playing on screen, and then finally the Star Cinema logo appeared. The audience went into a collective hush.
The movie began with a scene showing what triggered trouble in paradise for the lead couple: Vince Ramos (Gomez), a successful doctor, walks into a party only to find his beautiful wife, Tricia (Zulueta), and his best friend (TonTon Gutierrez) flirting with each other.
I could feel the tension in the air — the cold, controlled rage in Gomez’s Vince and the look of horror intermingled with guilt in Zulueta’s Tricia. She later admits she made a mistake.
In another part of town, Adie (Bea Alonzo), while trying on her wedding gown, stumbles on a sex tape of her fiance (Tom Rodriguez) and another woman. Faced with a tragic end to her fairy-tale romance, the young lawyer decides to move on and focus on herself.
On the road to getting over the heartache of betrayal, Adie and Vince’s paths cross again and again in chance meetings. They became acquaintances, and then friends, and soon unlikely lovers as they inadvertently got drawn towards each other.
And so we come to the question: Does getting hurt give you the right to hurt back? The movie answers this beautifully with several twists to the otherwise predictable plot.
Whether it was in the confrontational scenes or romantic moments, the onscreen chemistry of three of the Philippines’ most convincing actors is what kept the movie together. At least two other people seated near me were already trying to stifle their sobs halfway through the movie.
Gomez, Zulueta and Alonzo really did justice to their characters in this movie, delivering believable acting that made you want to root for all of them.
Unfortunately, only one pair can get a happy ever after. I won’t tell you who but I can tell you that the wad of tissue in my pocket was put to good use.
Don’t miss it!
The Love Affair is currently out in UAE cinemas.
