Love Me Tender

An exceedingly (and occasionally excessively) off-kilter piece of work, Love Me Tender details the exploits of quirky agoraphobe Seconda (Barbara Giordano) and follows her eventual efforts at opening herself up to new experiences. There’s little doubt that Love Me Tender improves substantially as it progresses, as the picture, at the outset, suffers from an egregiously slow and somewhat low-rent sensibility that’s compounded by filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke’s meandering screenplay (eg there are long stretches in which Seconda just kills time in her grungy apartment). (And it doesn’t help, certainly, that the protagonist initially comes off as an unreasonably quirky figure, with her mistreatment, and eventual murder, of her cat making it virtually impossible to sympathize with her plight.) It’s impressive to note, then, that Love Me Tender improves substantially once it passes it a certain point (eg Seconda finally leaves her house wearing a ridiculous jumpsuit), with the film’s final third, which features an assortment of new characters, packing a far more heartfelt punch than one might’ve anticipated – with the almost note-perfect conclusion cementing the picture’s place as an uneven yet ultimately rewarding little drama.

**1/2 out of ****