Ah, look at all the lonely people! – LIFF to premiere ‘Eleanor Rigby’

This Thursday at 7:30 p.m. the Louisiana International Film Festival presents an advance pre-release screening of the new romantic drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby at Cinemark Perkins Rowe. The screening is free, but tickets are limited. Register here.

Boldly written and directed as two separate films—Him and Her versions told from each partner’s vantage point—first-time feature director Ned Benson has edited these pieces together for The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, a complex narrative of intertwining perspectives nevertheless meditating on a universally recognizable theme: love lost and found.

Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, The Help) and the consistently underrated James McAvoy (X-Men, The Last King of Scotland) star as lovers whose longstanding connection is put to the ultimate test after a terrible personal tragedy befalls them. Tracking their relationship from first flirtations through the highs and lows of couplehood and the strain of an unexpected crisis, the film focuses on their attempts to pick up the pieces.

With a narrative that feels like a castoff John Irving novel, and a tone that draws dark allusions to the death-obsessed Beatles song referenced in the title, Eleanor Rigby looks to be anything but the typical Hollywood romance. As a feature filmmaker, Benson is a wildcard here, but he has a stellar cast and two leads who are always fascinating to watch, so that makes his debut film a must-see this week.

Viola Davis, Bill Hader and Ciran Hinds co-star. Watch the trailer below: