Elena Undone: 10th Anniversary
By: Susan Brittain
Available on Amazon Prime October 8th!
It’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since Elena Undone was released! When the film was originally released, it was billed as having the longest kiss in cinema history (3.24 minutes)!
The premise of the movie is that Elena’s friend, Tyler (Sam Harris), is filming a documentary about finding your soulmate. He interviews couples who have seemingly met by chance, which he believes is not chance at all but soulmates finding each other. He also does readings to help people find their soulmate.
Elena (Necar Zadegan) is a photographer married to a fundamentalist preacher, Barry (Gary Weeks). They have a son and have taken in their son’s girlfriend. Elena has been unhappy in her marriage for a while. She doesn’t buy in to all the fundamentalist bs, because she knows her husband tows the fundamentalist line to keep his big money parishioner happy.
In the meantime, Elena meets Peyton (Traci Dinwiddie), a writer, at an adoption event. Elena wants another baby and Peyton wants to adopt a child. Peyton has recently broken up with her partner and doesn’t believe she will find anyone who will want to help her raise a child. Elena and Peyton meet again at one of Barry’s parties. They begin meeting as friends, but Peyton tries to end their friendship because she wants more. Elena can’t bear the thought of losing Peyton and tells her she can have all of her but “that”. In a cute reply, Peyton tells her “that” is kind of a big thing for lesbians, at least in the beginning!
Elena spends more and more time with Peyton and begins to fall in love with her. She asks Peyton to make love to her, and Peyton says if she does, they can’t go back to what they were before. In a powerful moment for Zadegan, “I don’t want to go back.”
Elena’s sneaking around to be with Peyton finally comes to a head when Elena won’t talk to her husband about leaving and the big money parishioner sees Elena and Peyton kissing in the park. (Hello people--what’s the first rule of cheating if you don’t want to get caught--don’t do it in public!!). You’ll just have to watch the film to find out what happens in the end.
Both Necar Zadegan and Traci Dinwiddie give nuanced performances as a woman examining her feelings and sexuality for the first time, and a lesbian giving all of herself to a partner for the first time. You can feel the tension building as Peyton sets herself up for heartbreak because she’s falling in love with a married woman, and Elena unleashes the passion she has been suppressing for years in her marriage. The love scenes are beautifully done and the music score by Mark Chiat captures the nuances of the scenes throughout the film. In addition, there’s a terrific soundtrack including music by Corday, Jen Foster, God-dess & She, Colbie Caillat, and a number of others. I loved it just as much the second time around!
You can watch the film on Hulu with a subscription (30-day free trial) or stream on Wolfe Video on Demand for $3.99. Let me know what you think of the film.