Film review: Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes; Their husbands’ lovers

MANILA, Philippines -  The most revealing thing about Jun Robles Lana’s Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes is the excellent screenplay he co-wrote with Elmer Gatchalian.

The funny, if, witty exchanges between two wives (Judy Ann Santos and Angelica Panganiban) and between their husbands (JC de Vera and Joross Gamboa) had audiences laughing all the way. There is constant attempt to define the homosexual and the bisexual that Panganiban calls the “hetero-beki.”

But midway near the closing reels, the comedic parts quietly fade away for a poignant lesson on love and forgiveness.

How Lana and Gatchalian fleshed out the story for this moving conclusion makes this comedy several notches higher than other comedy films showing in town.

To be sure, it’s the funniest movie seen this year. In the same vein, it is also the most dramatic without the hysteria.

After savoring the superb screenplay, Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes offers a great ensemble acting and yes, a well-nuanced direction that highlights a rare love story that leaves a lump in your throat. The love of the wives to their husbands was real. But their husbands’ candor was just as moving.

The first part has two wives trying to please their husbands. One (Santos) undergoes a breast enhancement and the other (Panganiban) contrives a “catty” seduction scene that elicits the loudest roar of laughter in the theater.

When they discover their husbands’ rare kind of philandering, they plot to destroy the close ties between “the other men” and hire a macho dancer (Nico Antonio) to be the aggressive third party.

The result is pandemonium and moment of truth in Taiwan where the secret lovers tie the knot in a same-sex marriage.

Still, the superb screenplay allows the leading ladies to be their best in their respective contrasting roles. It also delineates contrasting reactions from the leading men.

Santos and Panganiban are natural comedians but their dramatic moments in the film never fail to elicit extreme pathos. On the whole, they complement each other.

One would say this is the best of De Vera and Gamboa seen on screen. The masculine elements of De Vera’s character merge naturally into the female psyche of Gamboa.

But for sure, Antonio as the macho dancer and the reluctant Taiwan love wrecker will earn a grand slam as the year’s big shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor. And how well he is proud of his job by resenting the label call boy!

The character of Andrea Brillantes provides a rare father-daughter portrait so lovingly fleshed out.

With this film, Lana emerges as one of the best directors of his generation.

How lucky he is to be incisive and discerning both as writer and director!

It is not surprising the film was rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board.

The film teaches true love and genuine forgiveness without even attempting to be preachy. The audience has all the fun and leaves the theater with a brand-new insight on a rarely explored truth about the human condition.

Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes is now showing in cinemas.