Trust

Hal Hartley, USA/UK 1990, 103 minutes

Maria (Adrienne Shelley) is the girlfriend of the high school quarterback, an enviable position, until she discovers she is pregnant. She is promptly dropped by the jock, drops out of school and worst of all watches her father drop dead of a heart attack when she tells him the news. Matthew (Martin Donovan) is a reform school graduate with a talent for fixing TVs and toasters. The two meet on the street and decide to go home together.

Trust tells the story of two people fighting to exist as a unit. Maria and Matthew are used to the solitary life, they know they want each other but they are afraid of hurting each other; they are worried that the pain of uniting and then separating will be worse than that of loneliness and isolation. Maria has lost everything she has ever placed her trust in and Matthew is still redefining his own notion of trust. She is unable to trust him and he cannot understand why.

Shelley is perfectly cast as the uneasy, skeptical Maria, a woman who knows isolation as the only place safe from hurt and disappointment. Donovan is mysterious and brooding as ever in the role of Matthew, a man brainwashed by the system to the point of being completely lost in the world. Both actors are Hartley regulars and deliver his heavily stylised, minimalist and often hilarious dialogue with just enough sensitivity to make the whole thing feel strangely plausible.

This tale of loners fighting to come together and overcome the obstacles of life is one of the most heartwarming love stories ever. It consolidated Hartley's reputation as one of America's most important and beloved young independent film-makers and it can make even the coldest of hearts glow with warmth.

"Hartley certainly has a distinctive world view which is both thought- and smile-provoking" - Virgin

Review by Ben Stephens
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97