I Love You, I Love You Not

views updated

I Love You, I Love You Not ★★½ 1997 (PG-13)

The Holocaust becomes a metaphor for one teen's survival of her first painful romance. Daisy (Danes) is a Jewish student at a snobby and anti-Semetic Manhattan prep school, where she falls in love with the ultimate gentile, Ethan (Law) in a “Kids” meets “The Way We Were” spin. Moreau is Nana, Daisy's grandmother and a Holocaust survivor, whom Daisy visits every weekend. The two share their painful sto ries (Danes also plays Nana as a young girl). Danes does what she does best as a misunderstood teen coming of age. Moreau shines in her role as the beloved grandmother. What misfires is the trite handling of the serious subject matter as Daisy's romance scores far more screen time than Nana's suffering. Hopkins, an established casting director, makes his feature debut. 92m/C VHS, DVD . FR GE GB Claire Danes, Jeanne Moreau, Jude Law, James Van Der Beek, Robert Sean Leonard, Kris Park, Lauren Fox, Emily Burkes-Nossiter, Carrie Slaza; D: Billy Hopkins; W: Wendy Kesselman; C: Maryse Alberti; M: Gil Goldstein.