Sparks fly in Bea and Dawn’s dramatic showdown

ZULUETA, GOMEZ AND ALONZO. Predictable but insightful exploration of fidelity.

We’ve been rallying behind Bea Alonzo long before it became fashionable to call her “this generation’s Movie Queen.” More than that “royal” appellation, however, we think that the 27-year-old star is her age group’s most skilled actress, along with the loopily irreverent Angelica Panganiban.

Without skipping a beat, Bea is just as thespically resplendent in director Nuel Naval’s romantic triangle, “The Love Affair,” a predictable but insightful exploration of infidelity (whose confrontation scenes, while well-acted, are sometimes too long and feel staged)—but, the shifting moral perspectives of Alonzo’s beleaguered character, lawyer Adie Valiente, threaten to derail her otherwise finely focused characterization.

After her two-timing  fiancé (Tom Rodriguez) calls off their engagement and leaves her in the romantic lurch, Adie finds herself on the rebound—and in deep trouble—with the indecisive Vince Ramos (Richard Gomez), a neurosurgeon whose marriage to the faithless but now remorseful Tricia (Zulueta) is on the rocks.

Gomez barrels through his characterization like a wayward bowling ball. Despite his love for his wife, Vince can’t shake off the feeling of being betrayed by Tricia’s shocking lapse of judgment.

His confusion comes to a head when he finds himself falling for Adie, who’s in the same boat—she’s also nursing a broken heart.

Storytelling misstep

In Dawn and Bea’s dramatic showdown, experience trounces earnestness by a nose—and a storytelling misstep that compromises Bea’s otherwise spot-on acting choices.

Sparks fly in their protracted confrontation scene (it’s too long and unrealistic, however), with perfectly calibrated lines that are guaranteed to generate trendsetting memes.

But, the younger actress is underserved by the uneven scripting of her character, whose moral ambiguity is trickier to navigate.

She works hard to recalibrate from Adie’s movingly limned heartbreak, to the perturbing imperiousness she displays when Vince stops reciprocating her love—a complexity that badgers Bea’s dramatic perspicacity into action, with lopsided results.

At one point, Adie hounds Vince with unrealistic demands and spews worrisome diatribes that would send even Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest raising some red flags. But, the movie queen can’t be perceived as a loon, right?

So, after her character dissolves into her often apathetic father’s arms in defeat (one of Bea’s indelible acting highlights), contentious issues are perfunctorily resolved in a clumsily staged scene where she affectionately tells Vince that—voila—she’s ready to let him go!

On the other hand, Dawn delivers a stirring portrayal that is significant for its unembellished beauty—and one of the year’s finest portrayals.

Her carefully calibrated delivery and whip-smart acting choices make viewers understand man’s occasional susceptibility to sin—and lets them see through a wounded soul that begs for her distracted man’s reassuring embrace.

Trish may have ruined and pushed her shaky marriage beyond repair, but you root for her to pick up the tattered pieces of her life just the same, because you fully understand where her strengths and flaws are coming from. —They’re not just random dramatic iterations of grief (a surprising twist in this thoughtful story)—and heartbreak!