The Man I Love Review: Crying When The Party’s Over

The Man I Love looks and sounds great, but Ira Sachs’ AIDS-era drama is almost sunk by Rami Malek’s affected lead turn.

If The Man I Love can’t quite land its emotional beats, it’s not for lack of trying to locate them in a fertile context. In late-1980s New York, AIDS is rampant, and among its victims is Malek’s flamboyant Jimmy George. The Reagan-era vilification of the victims of the AIDS epidemic lingers in the background of The Man I Love, but it’s not a piece of advocacy or a rabble-rousing portrait of scandalous events. Instead, it’s one man’s determination to fight back against his death sentence. However, Jimmy’s resistance takes many forms, including rehearsing a new play, and looking for hookups despite his diagnosis. In particular, his new downstairs neighbour Vincent (Luther Ford, of The Crown) is eyeing him up, even while Jimmy’s boyfriend Dennis (Tom Sturridge, of The Sandman) tries to keep him on the straight and narrow.

The selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival boasted its fair share of despicable protagonists, from the vengeful lead in Minotaur to the punitive parents in Fjord. In The Man I Love, Jimmy simply doesn’t have that level of complexity. He rehearses, minces and flirts his way around with little variety, save for the eventual oncoming effects of his illness. It’s hard to blame Sachs for this when he’s wrung complexity out of short-and-sweet setups before. Passages blurred the line between protagonist and villain with glee, while Peter Hujar’s Day was a conversation piece elevated by the knowing but intimate performances. That film’s lead, Ben Whishaw, pulled out from starring in The Man I Love due to scheduling conflicts, and one can’t help but wonder what the movie could have been like with him in it.

Jimmy is rehearsing a play based on Andre Brussard’s 1974 film Once Upon A Time In The East, which sees him donning a bouffant blond wig and getting his sass on. At least, he would if his encroaching illness wasn’t hampering his ability to remember his lines. The Man I Love is a tragedy by any conventional measure, as a larger-than-life man slowly has that life bled out of him. However, in Malek’s hands, that process of degradation lacks a sense of pain or affect. Every head tilt and prim pose in Malek’s performance is too put-on, denying Jimmy an interiority that he deserves in his condition, and which would make his actions seem a little less diabolical in the moment. 

Jimmy encourages Vincent’s pursuit, disregarding the risk for heartbreak and injury, but it never feels like the act of immolation and desperation it should be. If Malek can’t sell the pain, at least Ford compensates with his flirtatious turn, a ginger gadabout who seduces with his easy looks. Sachs fills Jimmy’s life with plenty of joys to demonstrate what he stands to lose. Large circles of friends share singsongs in Jimmy and Dennis’ apartment, and he maintains steady relationships with his family (Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are decent as Jimmy’s sister and brother-in-law). Even Sturridge, an actor who awkwardly conveys softness and icy disdain at once, is well-used as the cuckold left unsure where to put his sympathies. 

Sachs fills his 1980s New York vision with creature comforts. DoP Josée Deshaies gives Jimmy’s home a homey grain, while editor Affonso Gonçalves keeps the mood upbeat, joining Jimmy in shrugging off a dour mood. However, for all the community Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias’ script offer Jimmy, his behaviour undermines our sympathy (He serenades his parents at a family occasion in one scene, before risking himself and others in a gay dance club the next, in a scene reminiscent of Friedkin’s Cruising). This would have been fine in a defter actor’s hands, but Malek trades mostly in broad strokes. Ironically, a handful of moments when Jimmy performs see Malek at his best. When reciting Shakespeare or singing ‘Look What They Done To My Song, Ma’, Jimmy comes alive, but these are sparse moments in a performance that simply isn’t in sync with the film around it.

The Man I Love premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2026.