Let's be clear: I don't actually think “The One I Love” hinges on a twist.
Instead, I think it's a very clever, very clearly laid-out fantastic premise on which to hang questions of character and behavior. There is a reveal early in the film, and another late in the film, and that's it. And honestly, telling you that doesn't ruin anything. It can't ruin anything from this film. This is a movie about behavior. It's about the delicate, fragile fabric of marriage and how easy it is to unravel once you start picking at it.
When I sat down to speak to Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass, I knew I couldn't really get into the meat of their performances because it would spell things out, things that the movie only reveals to you slowly. Instead, we talked about the keeping of the secret and whether they believed they'd be able to get the film into theaters without giving away all of the things that make it so interesting.
I've known Mark Duplass for a while now, and I think he's turning out one strong performance after another. I just saw him in a film called “Creep,” and he was great in it. It's a gnarly little psychological thriller, and it makes great use of his sort of general amiability. In “The One I Love,” he's one half of this couple, not quite sure how he feels about therapy, but determined to make things work.
And why wouldn't he be? Elisabeth Moss is incredibly charming in person, and I think “The One I Love” gives her room to do a lot of things we haven't seem from her before. I'm not taking anything away from “Mad Men” or “Top Of The Lake” or any of the other good things she's done. I'm just saying that she plays shades of this character that I haven't seen from other things she's done, and it's great.
“The One I Love” is in theaters in limited release and on demand on August 22nd.