With films like “Pretty Woman,” “Primal Fear,” and “American Gigolo” under his belt, Richard Gere has had an illustrious career in Hollywood. Now, he stars in “Longing,” a drama that revolves around a father-son relationship. It follows Gere as a 60-year-old unmarried man who learns about his only son after the son’s shocking death. So, this busy New York-dwelling man travels to his ex-wife’s city to pay respects to the son he never met in person. Besides Gere, the film stars Suzanne Clément, Diane Kruger, Marnie McPhail, Stuart Hughes, and Jessica Clement.
Spoilers Ahead
Longing (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Longing” is a drama film that follows 60-year-old Daniel, who learns that he had a child 20 years ago. After the son’s shocking death, Daniel travels to pay his respects and reconsiders his life choices.
What happens in the Richard Gere starrer ‘Longing’?
“Longing” follows Daniel (Richard Gere), a 60-year-old bachelor from New York. He has had a successful career and has been busy for most of his life. One day, his ex-wife, Rachel (Suzanne Clément), asks to meet him after 20 years of their separation. Upon meeting her, he learns that Rachel was pregnant at the time they parted ways. She gave birth to Allen, who recently turned 19. Shortly after, he died in a tragic accident. Throughout his life, she never told him about his biological father. She also didn’t inform Daniel about Allen because Daniel did not want to have kids.
Daniel and Allen
After he meets with Rachel, Daniel feels empty inside. He decides to attend Allen’s service with Rachel. Rachel cannot make it there in time. Later, Daniel learns that Rachel is in hospital because of an autoimmune disease. He doesn’t know if she wants to see him again. Later, Allen’s friend, Mikey, comes to meet Daniel. He reveals that Allen was an exceptional pianist and that he had unrequited feelings for Allen. Before Allen’s death, Mikey and Allen bought a lot of weed with the intent to sell. Now that he is dead, the dealer asks Mikey for money.
Mikey asks Daniel for the share, but Daniel refuses to pay for a drug deal. Later, Daniel visits Allen’s school and realizes his photo is not on the student board. The school principal informs Daniel about disciplinary action taken against Allen because he graffitied lewd poetry on a school wall about their French Lit. Professor Alice (Diane Kruger).
Unlike the school administration, Daniel does not find the poetry objectionable but rather innocent and romantic. While walking out, Daniel meets Allen’s 16-year-old girlfriend, Lilian. Even though she loved Allen, he didn’t love her back. He was obsessively in love with Alice. Allen didn’t want to stay at his house, so he moved into Lilian’s house and lived there for almost three years.
Alice and Allen
Daniel gets curious about Alice and decides to meet her. Unlike what he imagined, she tells him all the good things about Allen. She tells him about Allen’s expertise in piano. Later, Daniel enters her French class to learn Allen told everyone that his pianist dad died by drowning. Daniel reveals some details of his painful upbringing. It might have made him not want to have children in the first place. After the class, Alice tells him more about Allen and shows him a venue where Allen plays the piano. Later that night, Daniel imagines Allen being in his hotel playing piano.
Daniel advises imaginary Allen not to be fixated on Alice and to be open to love from someone else. The next morning, Daniel meets Rachel and her husband, Robert. She talks about how her hopes for Allen will remain unfulfilled. During their conversation, Daniel learns that Alice filed a police complaint against Allen for harassment. Daniel gets angry since he thinks Alice only wants good things for Allen. He feels betrayed. Subsequently, he shows up at her house and confronts her. Without caring for her feelings for his son’s actions, he blames her for his son’s death.
Longing (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Daniel decide to celebrate Allen’s life?
In the graveyard, Daniel meets a man mourning his teenage daughter’s death. He reveals she was depressed for a while. Daniel sees her photo and believes she and Allen would have been perfect for each other. So, he makes a strange decision to ask this father to marry his daughter to Allen. Daniel also takes Rachel to meet the deceased girl’s parents. But Rachel gets upset by the parents’ comments and leaves Daniel alone. Then, Daniel stumbles upon a serene wedding venue and imagines how happy Allen would have been if he had gotten married there.
Daniel apologizes to Robert for not considering him in his decisions about Allen’s life since he had taken care of Allen all his life. Later, Daniel learns that Lilian is pregnant with Allen’s baby. Despite knowing Lilian is only 16, he expects her parents to let her have the baby because he wants to see Allen’s offspring. Lilian’s father gets justifiably angry at Daniel. After all, Allen had been living in their house for years.
Still, neither Daniel nor Rachel thanked him or his wife for it. In the past, Allen drugged Lilian’s grandmother so that he could have sex with Lilian in the grandmother’s room. In the present, the argument between Lilian & Allen’s parents turns violent. So, Daniel and Rachel leave. At the end of “Longing,” Daniel & Elizabeth’s relatives gather at the wedding spot Daniel discovered before. They celebrate the reunion of these two teenagers who died at a young age.
Longing (2024) Movie – Final Word:
With no clear understanding of what it wants to say, a series of sloppy tonal shifts, and amateurish dialogue-writing, “Longing” becomes an abysmal drama that wastes the potential of seasoned actors like Gere, Clement, and Kruger. Gere tries to bring so much heart into his character’s plight, but it doesn’t help in an inherently lifeless drama. Here, the script hopes to put a spin on the narratives of its victims and survivors while often being tone-deaf, insensitive, and occasionally creepy.
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Longing (2024) Movie Trailer:
