Across the River

2011, 90 minutes

First loves, reunited after many years, must choose whether to go back together or onwards apart.

Ryan is broke, with sculpture his only income and his girlfriend is starting to resent it. They’re having her parents round for dinner so he needs to get back but he’s building an elephant out of sand on the Southbank. Emma seems to have it all as a successful corporate lawyer, but juggling the demands of a huge merger and her role as wife and mother is tough. Ryan was her first love; it ended badly and they haven't seen each other since then... ...until now. It's very awkward at first but they soon find something in common. A strike has paralysed public transport and they need to get to their homes: quite close to each other, but on opposite sides of the river. He convinces her that they should walk. On their way they reminisce, argue, cry and laugh. They can never recapture what they had, but the memory of it tempts Ryan and she too is swept up in the romance; a momentary escape. Where now?

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