Love Type D

Have you ever felt like you’re always on the wrong side of a breakup? Like it can no longer be a coincidence that you are perpetually unlucky in love? In this witty directorial debut from Sasha Collington, all these questions and fears are addressed through the absurd, yet charming, story of Frankie (Maeve Dermody). 

After being dumped by proxy through her ex boyfriend’s eleven-year-old brother (Rory Stroud), Frankie hears word of a gene that determines whether you are the dumper or the dumpee. This sends her into a spiral, panicking that unless she finds a cure she will never be truly happy. Love Type D is an outrageous attempt at scrutinizing the nature of modern relationships, and the extent to which hypochondria has become a concept reaching far further than medicine alone.

The performances steal the show in Love Type D. While Dermody’s shy qualities make you want to shake her at ever plot turn, the young and talented Stroud takes the majority of the laughs with his dry and straight-forward outlook on love and life. The relationship between the two is equally heart-warming, with a sense that Dermody is finding her way as much as the much younger Stroud. Their unlikely friendship serves as an important reminder, that it is normal and natural to feel lost at every stage of life. 

Although at times the plot takes turns for the utterly ridiculous, the total investment in Dermody’s happiness grounds the various tangents. The third act loses touch with this, as Dermody’s behaviours breach the grounds of consent ever so slightly. In an age where ‘Me Too’ all too often clashes with ‘Not All Men’, this narrative device lacks tact, and is the one place where the film’s comedy stumbles.

Love Type D explores the reality that everyone is a little bit lost in a society overwrought with information. It’s a shame that the plot took a turn that lost its way in itself, however the film’s undeniable charm salvages this detour. Whether you are love type A, B, D or X, this film is a gentle reminder that true happiness is to be free of categorisations and expectations altogether.