The Treatment
Ira Sachs & Alfred Molina: Love is Strange
"'Subtext' and 'motivation' are terrible words on a set, and they should be banned," says Ira Sachs on directing Love is Strange.
By Elvis Mitchell • • 28m ListenLove is Strange is a "multigenerational family epic, but told in a very cramped New York apartment," according to its co-writer/director Ira Sachs. As a director, Sachs' films, including the critically acclaimed Keep the Lights On, are often about the difficulty of leading a life of domesticity. Love is Strange is the story of Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina), a couple who takes advantage of New York's new marriage laws and ties the knot after 39 years of being together. After the Catholic school where George teaches fires him, the couple is forced to sell their apartment, splitting up and staying with friends until they can find a cheaper place. It explores how culture affects our personal lives, and how politics actually inflicts pain on relationships and people, but it's also a film about true intimacy. "Love is Strange really reflects an optimism that I feel about love that didn't come to me until I was in my 40s," says Sachs. He and Alfred Molina join Elvis to talk about the film.
Banner image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
