Movie Review: 'I Really Love My Husband' is a Three-Body Problem

GG Hawkins finds the sweet spot in a complicated morass of sex and angst

Director and co-writer GG Hawkins delves deep into what the press notes for I Really Love My Husband call “female ennui.” Specifically: When we first meet Teresa (Madison Lanesey) she’s making a phone call to a mystery man to tell him, “I forgive you.” For what? We’re not told, but as the movie unfolds we can start making educated guesses… especially when the man’s reply is, “Isn’t this your wedding day?” Trouble can’t be far behind for this paradise.

(Photo: Madison Lanesey in ‘I Really Love My Husband’ Credit: Night Breeze)

And indeed, when Teresa and her husband — the sweet-natured, friendly Drew (Travis Quentin Young) — head to a Panamanian island paradise a year later for their delayed honeymoon, they bring their simmering troubles with them. Drew is nothing less than devoted, but his happy pureness of heart has evidently started to rub Teresa raw; even when he shares the blame with her for an airplane incident she inadvertently triggers (and he heroically resolves), his natural generosity of spirit only aggravates her sense of inadequacy. Or is there something more going on beneath the surface?

(Photo: Arta Gee in ‘I Really Love My Husband’ Credit: Night Breeze)

There’s certainly a frisson of sexual dissatisfaction, but when the not-so-happy couple arrive at their vacation rental and meet Paz (Arta Gee) — their host — they both feel a spark. Paz is centered, confident, and androgynous enough to appeal to anybody anywhere on the spectrum of sexuality. Paz goes by “they/them” pronouns (not something Paz announces, but the pronouns to which those around them seem automatically to default) and, when the spark between Paz and the honeymooners grows hot enough, they’re happy enough to go along with the developing situation.

(Photo: Travis Quentin Young, Madison Lanesey, and Arta Gee in ‘I Really Love My Husband’ Credit: Night Breeze)

There are complications, of course, first in the form of a jealous romantic rival (and reality show veteran) named Kiki (Lisa Jacqueline Starrett) but, increasingly, due to Teresa’s own conflicted feelings about… well, everything: Her marriage. Her life. Paz.

Hawkins and co-writers Laney and Scott Monahan invest the film with comedy (much of it gentle, some of it savage) and know just how to calibrate the characters’ compasses to that they fall on the sweet spot between adventurous and hesitant. The Panama setting is a selling point, but it’s the cast, fearless and committed, along with Hawkins’ direction that makes this indie shine.

I Really Love My Husband streams on VOD platforms starting November 4.