In Zen and the Art of Intimacy, Arthur Samuels writes: " Commitment is the vital oxygen for intimacy. It is necessary for its growth and survival. When it is inspired by love, commitment is an exciting plunge into life at its best." Yet for some singletons, tying oneself down to one individual seems too limiting and even constricting. They revel in the idea of pleasure for its own sake and letting relationships bloom as long as they can and then die. It's okay, they say, since we live in a transient world where nothing lasts forever. This philosophy is espoused by the lead character in Maria Maggenti's film Puccini for Beginners.
Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) is a writer who lives in New York City. She wrote a novel that received an award and is working on another one. But things are not going well for her in her personal life: Her lesbian lover, Samantha (Julianne Nicholson), has decided to leave Allegra because she won't commit to a lasting love relationship. She doesn't even want to remain friends. At a party, Allegra meets Philip (Justin Kirk), a philosophy professor at Columbia who is a head person like herself. It turns out that he is one of the few people in the world who has read and remembers her novel. In addition, they share a passion for opera.
Even though she tells him that she is a lesbian, they have sex and it's not half bad for either of them. They continue to date, talking about gender stereotypes over countless dinners. Philip decides to listen to his heart rather than his head and pursue her. In one of the funniest scenes, they go out to dinner with Allegra's two best friends Molly (Jennifer Dundas) and Nell (Tina Benko).The conversation surprises them all.
Meanwhile Allegra meets Grace (Gretchen Mol), an investment banker, at a movie theatre and finds her very alluring. She has been in a relationship with her boyfriend for six years, and there is little satisfaction there for either of them. Grace perks up when Allegra flirts with her over coffee and comments how beautiful her hands are. Soon they are in a romantic relationship as well.
Puccini for Beginners is a spiffy romantic comedy that is lightly entertaining and buoyed by a splendid performance by Elizabeth Reaser, who was so astonishing in Sweet Land. Writer and director Maggenti has stated in an interview that "a woman who wants sexual pleasure and sexual freedom is still in a real bind in American culture. If she's at all intellectually inclined and her sexiness isn't necessarily located in her cleavage, she's especially screwed."
We can't tell you what happens to Allegra in the closing sequences but suffice it to say that a quotation by Emily Dickinson helps shed light on her predicament and lead her down a new path.
