Chapter eleven: Prime

Prime is a movie about a woman named Rafi, who hasn't had an intimate relationship since her divorce seven years ago. She's thirty-seven. Rafi's therapist Lisa (Meryl) is encouraging her to get her name back out there. Following her advice, Rafi dips her toes into the dating pool again, and ends up forming a relationship with Lisa's young, twenty-something year old son David, who is a starving artist. Lisa is enlightened by the news that Rafi has managed to swoon someone so young, and Rafi brings descriptive details of their lives together to share in her sessions. Really the whole movie is dramatic irony in its finest hour.

As Rafi and David progress their intimacy, it begins to click with Lisa that the man Rafi is telling her about sounds an awful lot like her son, and she spits into her water glass. This gives her a dilemma of choosing to keep Rafi as a client and hear things she doesn't want to, or to let Rafi go. Eventually, she makes the right decision and tells her,

"He's my son."

Rafi feels betrayed, but David persuades her to come to a family dinner because his mom isn't so bad. She does tag along, but has trouble seeing Lisa as the mother of her boyfriend instead of her therapist.

Nonetheless, the couple is getting fairly official. David has even shown her his artwork, and Rafi thinks he should pursue it as a career. Not to mention that Rafi's biological clock is ticking, so she is seriously considering children. Lisa will sometimes get overbearing, because there is one scene in the film where she does follow the pair around awkwardly in a furniture store.

It's their drastic age difference that drives the two of them apart. David is so young. He wants to be lively, and Rafi wants to settle down into a dependable relationship. Towards the end, David does want to get serious with her, but Rafi knows that he will regret the decision with time. It's a sentimental ending. No one's feelings were hurt, the couple just sort of broke off after a mutual understanding that they weren't right for each other. One year later, they see each other at a restaurant by chance, and wave friendly. It's a light-hearted romance movie with comical attributes perfect for rainy weather.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.