How can a respectable filmmaker go from producing a formidable story about a man suffering from the plagues of his family to a sappy tale of love lost over years between two people who aren’t capable of saying anything of merit to one another? This is the question to ask when watching Paul Schrader’s powerful, resonating Affliction followed by Forever Mine, the kind of movie that is hard to explain from any director, let alone one as successful and admirable as Schrader. From the look of it, the film was made on video for little money, and yet it had a standard independent budget and was made with the intention of being shown in theaters before no one picked it up for distribution and was stuffed into the late night schedule of Showtime. This certainly seems like a fall from grace for Schrader and it is hard to understand exactly what his intentions with this story were. The story is hardly original and the dullness of the characters and story makes it lie lifeless on the screen all the more. Does this make it worth watching? Only if you believe that thinly-written characters in a corny, cliched screenplay merit attention.

Perhaps most telling about Forever Mine is its placement in Paul Schrader’s career. He has a predilection for attempting a complete about-face stylistically–following Mishima with Light of Day and Light Sleeper with Witch Hunt. In that sense, this film is no different. Yet, its amateurish style and complete lack of credible acting or intrigue makes it stick out even more not merely as a bad movie but as almost an attempt by Schrader to make the most anti-Paul Schrader movie possible. A beach instead of the city, subpar acting, and maudlin in the worst possible way all add up to a complete turnaround from his typical lean stories heavy on self-destructive protagonists fighting inner demons as well as their surroundings in search of grace and redemption. Instead, we get a bizarre introductory scene which serves no purpose other than to lead directly into a flash-back consisting almost entirely of Joseph Fiennes skirt-chasing young and married Gretchen Mol. Fortunately for him, she is willing, since her workaholic husband (Ray Liotta) pays little attention to her. Unfortunately for the audience, their chemistry is non-existent and so is any discernible reason as to why she would leave a successful, wealthy man for a poor cabana boy, even if he is younger, virile and completely smitten with her. Psychologically, this makes no sense, and yet we sense that the movie wants us to believe in them as much as it does.

For nearly the first hour of the picture, the affair between the cabana boy and the trophy wife evolves in ways both trite and uninteresting. Then, out of sheer happenstance, the story develops into a tale of vengeance in which the “hero” steals the identity of a Cuban criminal lawyer simply by shooting him in a public bathroom and then, for obvious reasons, is able to endure fourteen years of difficult legal procedures and requirements so that he is never caught. Unsurprisingly, the two lovers are reunited in a twist on The Count of Monte Cristo as the criminal lawyer is now representing the husband and the former cabana boy plans his revenge. Putting aside all the logistical questions here (which are plenty), it is most unpleasant to see this story exploit the classic Dumas tale for cheap, allegedly-romantic encounters between the lovers that, again, cannot be adequately explained other than to further the plot. Yet, all of this could be forgiven if the two lovers were able to generate any feelings other than slight eroticism. If the actors have little chemistry together, Schrader hamstrings them even more by giving them nothing important or interesting to say. Nothing they say to one another serves any purpose other than to continue the plot mechanism forward. If any insight into human nature is supposed to be present, it is a mystery indeed.

In the end, Forever Mine represents Paul Schrader’s worst filmmaking attempt to this point, not only because he is clearly capable of much better movies but also because of the abandonment of his usual themes and motifs, which have given some of his previous works such lasting impact. Alan the cabana boy is completely one-dimensional as is the cheating wife, the corrupt husband and the obligatory Cuban best friend obsessed with being involved in crime. Even as a mere genre exercise, this is subpar with overt elements of marital boredom and forbidden love that offer nothing of substance to the viewer. It is most likely Schrader’s goal was to make a modern version of a 1940s steamy potboiler like The Postman Always Rings Twice, but if it was a learning experience for him it is merely a waste of time for everyone else.