A Love Story

As you already know by now, A Love Story is about successful but emotionally scarred businessman Ian Montes (Aga Muhlach) who is torn between two women: Joanna (Maricel Soriano), a doctor, and Karyn (Angelica Panganiban) a flight attendant. Who is the wife and who is the mistress? I watched the film without knowing who’s who and that definitely helped me appreciate the unfolding of this mystery in the film. In spite of all speculations, you wouldn’t know until the middle of the film when one of the women refers to Ian as her husband.

The film begins with immediate tension in medias res when the two women agree to meet up. Karyn wants to know why Ian can’t seem to leave Joanna. Joanna wants to know how Ian met Karyn. After this exchange of flashbacks reality catches up with the trio: Karyn is pregnant. It is only then when the audience finds out who exactly is the wife. But that’s not important now, what’s more important is the question, “how is this going to end?” The three are broken, and they try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

The plot from the official site states “Ian faces a difficult choice.” but it is not just Ian who is forced to choose. The women choose as well. As a teaser, I’ll give you a peek: Karyn tells Ian to let go– they both have to grow up. The next scenes are framed by these words onscreen:

FIVE YEARS AFTER

Then Joanna and Karyn accidentally meet, but you wouldn’t know exactly what the ending is until the final scene. At that point knowing how the film ends is only secondary to the question of why the film ends that way. I believe “five years after” has a lot to do with this story that explores unconditional love and forgiveness.