Sylvie's Love(s) & Losses
A fictional melodrama meant to highlight love, jazz, and Black women's upward career mobility in the 1950's loses its romantic fantasy under the microscope.
** This movie review of Sylvie’s Love contains all the spoilers, ever. You’ve been warned.**
Full Disclosure: This review critiques relationship dynamics displayed in the movie, and not the quality of the movie as a whole.
Sylvie’s Love (Dir. Eugene Ashe) was released on Christmas Day and immediately placed on my “films-to-watch” binge list. Set in hot, 1950’s Harlem summer, Sylvie, played by Tessa Thompson, is not-so-secretly working at her family-owned record shop. Her mind is set on working in the entertainment industry- particularly television production, but she sees little opportunity to break into the industry as a Black, albeit light-skinned, woman. Her mysterious lover and fiancé, Lacy is away for the summer, leaving her vulnerable to the smooth advances of Mr. Right Now- Robert, played by Nnamdi Asomugha. Robert’s the talented Jazz saxophonist who gets in her father, Herbert’s good graces fast with employment at the record shop, and earns piercing side eyes from her mother, Eunice who knows he’s not a worthy candidate for courtship, nor as wealthy as Lacy’s family. Long story short- Robert swoons over Sylvie on the cusp of his breakout European jazz tour, while Sylvie juggles infidelity, an unintended pregnancy, and her dream career path in a way only a resilient Black woman could.
I want to highlight and dissect three key (problematic) relationships in this film:
Sylvie & Lacy
Sylvie & Robert
Sylvie & her daughter, Michelle
Sylvie & Lacy
In early conversations, Sylvie constantly refers to her fiancé as a self-reminder of his imminent return from a temporary corporate stint in Korea, but also a polite warning to friendly-stranger Robert. Lacy lives in the viewers’ imagination for the first 51 minutes of the film, only to appear after they’re married, raising a child, and she starts working at a TV production studio. It’s hard to root for a man you don’t know, even if he’s already staked claim to the eligible bachelorette. Lacy is climbing his way to the top of his career pyramid; leading high-profile projects, and hosting dinners with the (passively racist) executive families at the expense of Sylvie’s rigorous television production assistant schedule.
Lacy gets it all wrong by assuming Sylvie’s love for TV can be placed in the rearview, when in fact her career is already on a steady path forward. He’s quickly identified as a provider, who wants his wife to want for nothing, and in return she be the housewife he expects her to find content in. After all, Eunice has been molding her daughter since youth to be the most poised, intelligent, and subservient belle Harlem could offer a Black man of distinction. For a while, Sylvie manages home and work obligations, becoming more resourceful to avoid clashing with her husband and boss. This balancing act crumbles after Herbert passes away, pushing Sylvie to initiate a divorce, and accept the truth about the man who stole her heart all those years ago.
You may ask, what’s the central theme of this relationship? I will say, high-class statuses and financial stability will not keep an unsatisfied partner from cheating. Cheating is the effect, not the cause of an incompatible relationship. By unsatisfied, I don’t only mean intimacy, but in life’s totality. Humans attach a purpose to their reason for existing- no matter how insignificant it might feel to someone else. Like Sylvie realizes, life is too short to stay unhappy trying to make others happy. Being an attentive partner is an ongoing practice, requiring equitability, affection, and effective communication.
Sylvie & Robert
Sylvie “works” at Herbert’s record store, but most days she’s actually sneak-watching television, which Eunice doesn’t allow her to do at home. The love of TV, a Detroit jazz band seeking their big break in New York, and fate bring Sylvie and Robert together. Lacy might be the *thing* that keeps Sylvie from embracing her natural connection to Robert, but the sexual tension finally breaks after spending an evening listening to him play that sax very well.
Sylvie plays emotional “cat and mouse” games with Robert throughout the summer, both fully aware of her engagement and the eventual return of Lacy. She wants to feel “special”, and he’s willing to oblige, but a surprise European jazz tour casts a huge shadow over their summer love. Sylvie doesn’t follow her heart, which urges her to leave with him and abandon the Debutante Wife role assigned to her. Instead, she stays in Harlem, hiding the fact that Robert has unintentionally impregnated her.
They go their separate ways, and her life with Lacy and baby Michelle continue. Although their paths collide five years later by another act of fate, the central theme of this budding relationship requires the mutual acknowledgement of desires and needs before it’s “too late.” Why is it soooo hard to follow our heart’s desires? Why does it take a catastrophic event to realize what matters most is aligning with our heart’s desires to shape our reality, not the other way around! Relationships without effective and honest communication are a cesspool for secret harboring, and irrational decision-making. Bring your partner up to speed with your internal thoughts and feelings- they have the capacity to understand you.
Women are statistically more likely to sacrifice more of everything in a heterosexual, monogamous relationship, so it pains me to see this same cycle of relationship martyring depicted in the 20th decade of 21st century fictional cinema.
#1 Melodramatic Movie rule: Don’t cheat and avoid using STI & pregnancy protection barriers! You will get pregnant and/or die in the movie!
Sylvie & Michelle
Years pass. Sylvie earns the title of TV producer and flourishes in the role. Lacy and Sylvie’s relationship crumbles, and Robert has to face the fact that American Jazz is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
However, before Herbert’s passing, he revealed to Robert that Michelle is his daughter- not Lacy’s. Robert wants to make up for lost time with Michelle, and Sylvie is willing to give him access to her heart and family once again. It seems like this relationship will finally start to flourish, especially after all those years apart.
Ultimately, Robert’s dreams of continuing professional Jazz musicianship are crushed after a promising opportunity to play with the Motown Recording Company falls through, and he returns home empty-handed. Instead of letting his feelings of disappointment and sadness flow, he abruptly appears at Sylvie’s job to… break up with his family and move back to Detroit alone?
Although Michelle is Sylvie’s daughter, she’s definitely not Sylvie’s #1 Priority. The story follows the adults’ drastic decisions, but every male father figure Michelle’s had in her formative years has left- by force or by choice. She doesn’t deserve the emotional trauma she’s experiencing, and no-one helps her process these feelings of patriarchal loss. Sylvie neglected to tell her daughter the truth about her father, only bringing Robert around when he wanted to be in her life. Even so, he gives no second thought to leaving her and Sylvie, solely because he’s struggling to earn income. Sylvie is successful and doesn’t need a second income- she needs him. Once you’re a parent, your irrational decisions affect you and your child. Don’t let your ego lead you to abandon your responsibility of raising competent and loved children. I wish Michelle wasn’t used as a plot device, but instead treated as a young Black girl who deserves unwavering love. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
Feel free to watch Sylvie’s Love on Amazon Prime, and form your own conclusions about the film in totality. I’d love to see your comments about it below!
