For Ira Sachs, the act of remembering is rarely a linear process. He had been circling the concept of The Man I Love for more than a decade, a project that remained a dormant instinct until the timing, the casting and the personal headspace aligned. The result is a vividly textured drama set in New York City circa 1984, a period that mirrors Sachs’ own arrival in the city and his subsequent decade of “deep, painful and also transcendent experiences of gay life.”
The film centers on Jimmy George, a beloved queer entertainer played by Oscar winner Rami Malek. Jimmy is facing the terminal reality of an AIDS diagnosis, yet he is consumed by a singular, defiant ambition: to mount a new play. It is a story less about the clinical tragedy of a plague and more about the ferocious appetite for life and art that persists in the shadow of mortality.
Premiering on May 21 at the Cannes Film Festival, The Man I Love marks Sachs’ second appearance in the festival’s Main Competition, following 2019’s Frankie. Co-written with longtime collaborator Mauricio Zacharias, the film arrives 16 months after Sachs’ previous effort, Peter Hujar’s Day, signaling a prolific period for a director who has spent 15 years quietly carving out a space for nuanced, adult-oriented American independent cinema.
A Cinema of Memory and Defiance
Sachs describes the film as an instinctual work, mined from decades of memory and sharpened by the aftermath of the pandemic. During that period of isolation, Sachs found himself confronting the intertwining relationships between art and death, focusing not just on the loss, but on the tactile pleasures of existence—”emotion and drama and story and color and skin and sex.”
The character of Jimmy George is not a fictional vacuum; he is modeled after the real-life experimental artists who defined the New York avant-garde, such as Ron Vawter of The Wooster Group and pioneering gay comedian Frank Maya. These were men who fought to create until their final breaths. Malek notes that Vawter, for example, was on stage and unable to complete a performance just six days before his death. This “quietly defiant” spirit serves as the heartbeat of the film.
For Malek, the role required a departure from his previous work. He describes the process as a “large risk,” noting that he was not the obvious choice for the part. Sachs, who cast Malek after seeing his work in Mr. Robot, suggests that Malek brings a sense of unpredictability to the screen. “Rami makes the film dangerous,” Sachs says, comparing Malek’s presence to the raw, improvisational energy of Cassavetes or Gazzara.
The Architecture of a Love Triangle
Drawing inspiration from the ensemble-driven world-building of Robert Altman and Ken Loach, Sachs avoids the traditional “protagonist” structure. Instead, the camera drifts, capturing the spontaneity of a living community. The narrative is anchored by a steamy, aching love triangle between Jimmy, his partner Dennis (played by Tom Sturridge), and a youthful new neighbor, Vincent (Luther Ford).
The chemistry between Malek and Sturridge, who are longtime friends in real life, provides the film’s emotional bedrock. Malek recalls a meeting in a London pub where the bond was established, a sense of care that translates into the “gorgeous moments” they share on screen. This stability is contrasted by the disruptive energy of Luther Ford, who makes his feature-film debut as Vincent, balancing “youthful exuberance” with a surprising depth of experience.
| Actor | Role | Character Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Rami Malek | Jimmy George | Lead; dying entertainer and playwright |
| Tom Sturridge | Dennis | Jimmy’s devoted partner |
| Luther Ford | Vincent | Neighbor and romantic foil |
| Rebecca Hall | Sister | Jimmy’s sister; part of his intimate family circle |
| Ebon Moss-Bachrach | Brother-in-law | Jimmy’s brother-in-law |
Music as Dialogue
While not a musical in the traditional sense, The Man I Love is perhaps Sachs’ most musically driven project. He utilizes live singing not as a stylistic flourish, but as a narrative engine, drawing parallels to classics like All That Jazz and A Star Is Born. The songs function as dialogue, expressing emotions that the characters cannot articulate through speech.
One of the film’s emotional peaks occurs when Jimmy performs Melanie’s “What Have They Done to My Song Ma” for his family. Though the song predates the 1980s, Sachs argues that its spirit is evocative of the era’s desperation and longing. This authenticity extends to the supporting cast; Sachs worked with casting director Avy Kaufman to fill the theatrical troupe with real-life New York artists, ensuring the film captures the genuine “depth of what it is to make theater” in the city.
The Struggle of the American Indie
Beyond the artistic achievements, The Man I Love serves as a barometer for the current state of U.S. Independent cinema. The film is one of only two American entries in competition at Cannes this year—the other being James Gray’s Paper Tiger. For Sachs, this scarcity is a signal of the challenges facing domestic indie filmmakers.
“If you live within the context of American Independent cinema, you feel a little bit alone,” Sachs admits. He has increasingly looked toward international collaborations and festivals to find a community of filmmakers in Asia, Latin America, and Europe who share his commitment to “personal cinema.”
In reflecting on the finished film, Sachs realized he had inadvertently remade his first film from 1989, Vaudeville—also a backstage drama featuring three men in a love triangle. To him, This represents not a repetition, but a full circle. The fearlessness Jimmy exhibits in the face of mortality is, for Sachs, a reflection of the vulnerability required to put a deeply personal work into the world.
The Man I Love premieres May 21 at the Cannes Film Festival. Following the festival, official distribution details and a wider release date are expected to be announced.
Do you think the “personal cinema” approach is the only way to save the American indie market? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
