Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a divorced masseuse who makes her living through liaising with many of the suburban stereotypes she often wishes she could escape in her small community. When she’s not mingling with her two married friends (Toni Collette and Ben Falcone), she’s the mother of a daughter who is about to embark on her college journey in another state, leaving her mother alone. Eva’s salvation comes in the form of two individuals – Marianne (Catherine Keener), a poet with a certain joie de vivre that adds a spark to Eva’s previously dull life through their vivacious discussions and shared experiences as women of a certain age not limiting themselves to societal expectations, and Albert (James Gandolfini), another recent divorcee who strikes a connection with the protagonist, showing that beneath his brutish exterior, there’s a man worthy of her love, and one who will fight to prove himself as someone who deserves her heart. Eva and Albert become extremely close, and find a quality in each other that they both feel they were missing in the past – but when something of a coincidence throws their burgeoning relationship into jeopardy, they start to question if what they were feeling was actually real, or just manufactured by the fact that beneath their veneers of humour and passion, they’re just two vulnerable, middle-aged adults looking for love, and not quite sure if they’re searching in all the right places.

Enough Said tells us a lot of things – some are facts that we already know, others are new pieces of information that naturally would’ve seemed obvious, but only became very clear through this film. We’ve always known that Nicole Holofcener is one of the most gifted filmmakers of her generation, being an essential voice in the raise of contemporary independent cinema and a stalwart of unique, character-driven stories. We’ve known that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini are exceptional actors – perhaps having plied their trade most significantly on television, their jump to film here was nothing short of a continuation of their brilliance (and a saddening reminder of the immense loss the world of acting lost with the passing of Gandolfini). We’ve always known these sweet and sentimental love stories that place emphasis on reality rather than idealism always end up being some truly terrific pieces of social commentary. So, then what was it that we didn’t know? Perhaps it was the fact that these forces all collided in a truly miraculous experience, the rare kind of romantic comedy that doesn’t need to try too hard, nor assert itself in ways that it shouldn’t, rather remaining a simple, touching story of human connection, grounded by two gifted performers and guided by a filmmaker whose vision is almost unprecedented when it comes to representing existence in its most earnest form.

If you look at the small but meaningful handful of films Holofcener has directed since her debut in the 1990s, you’ll see a filmmaker whose work always reflects a certain social malaise, a perspective on the cultural zeitgeist that isn’t necessarily biting or sardonic, but always feels oddly resonant, especially considering how many of her films find themselves rooted in the expression of love or other concepts commonly appropriated by bigger films in broader ways. Enough Said is not any different, and it sees the director taking on romance in her own way, which is noteworthy on its own, considering how Holofcener consistently seems to tap into an underlying sense of ennui when it comes to how she represents the most fundamental aspects of life. There isn’t a moment of grandstanding or delusion anywhere to be found in this film, and right from the outset, we’re presented with a romance that is going to follow the familiar beats – she is, after all, trying to entertain us and give us an uplifting story – but not in the ways that we’d expect it to. Her work is always so simple, yet there’s a subversive edge that underpins them that always prevents them from going anywhere near cliche. Enough Said is the quintessential indie comedy insofar as it never strives to be complex, and rather finds itself working the best when it is at its most simple, which is always a quality that has made independent cinema something effortlessly easy to appreciate.

Enough Said may have been borne from the genius of Holofcener, but it’s undoubtedly bolstered by the two performances at the core of it. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini are two actors who weren’t always the most expected choices when it came to choosing the leads of a romantic comedy – both certainly extremely charming, but still somewhat untested when it comes to the main roles here, both of them were risky choices that certainly paid off for many reasons. Firstly, on their own they’re extraordinary – Louis-Dreyfus has a certain vulnerability in her performance that her sometimes bold television work, where she regularly proves herself as a master of the comedic form, rarely facilitates. Gandolfini, who made an impact through his unique blend of pathos and intensity, gives an unexpectedly tender performance as a man looking for love and realizing that despite his flaws, he’s worth every bit of adoration. Their performances on their own are extraordinary, but it when Louis-Dreyfus and Gandolfini are on screen together that the true brilliance of this film comes out – their chemistry is palpable from the first moment, and it never relents throughout the entirety of the film. Both are so at ease, both with their characters and with the other actor, their interactions are so natural, it sometimes becomes difficult to realize this is fiction. They find a certain common ground that absolutely nothing else in the film can distract from, and allows their performances to flourish in brilliant but unexpected ways.

When you get down to it, Enough Said is just a wonderful meditation on life and its idiosyncrasies that can sometimes be hilarious, but more often than not tend to be more uncomfortable and more of a nuisance than anything else. Holofcener does something terrific when it comes to this kind of story – she doesn’t avoid the awkwardness, but she also doesn’t use it as comic folly. Her approach is far too elegant to be cheapened by expectations, and her ability to take the high road while still delivering a resonant masterpiece about modern romance is just another reason why she’s one of the most underpraised auteurs working today. Enough Said is not a complex film, and it thrives on a very simple premise, but one that facilitates the fascinating reflection on humanity that the director does so well. There are no enormous changes in appearance or personality – the film’s wonderfully triumphant ending is only made better by the fact that these two people have finally surrendered to their love, without having had to change much about themselves, rather accepting their own flaws and the imperfections that allured them to the other in the first place. The characters in Enough Said are incomplete and rough around the edges, but this is certainly by design. Holofcener is clearly against stereotypes, and goes to great lengths to form characters that have their flaws, whether lovable or unbearable, but instead of being defined (and limited) by them, they form the basis of who they are as individuals, which is far more than most romantic comedies do when constructing meaningful characters.

This is a film about real people, told with the conviction of a filmmaker who truly understands that perfection isn’t what we are hoping to see on screen, but rather that we want to see some part of ourselves reflected in the story. Enough Said is a film that’s almost impossible to not love – it’s as charming and endearing as a film of its nature can get, and it charges through a wonderfully buoyant story with a fierce but loving intensity that never allows it even a moment of weakness. Entertaining and well-constructed to a fault, there’s very little to criticize about this film – perhaps some of the peripheral characters could’ve been woven into the story in better ways (the character played by Tavi Gevinson is notoriously vague, and her role in the film is one that leaves much to be desired), or the secondary themes of parenthood and ageing could’ve been explored further in conjunction with the main romance storyline in which they seemingly play a pivotal role. However, it’s all rendered inconsequential by the fact that what Holofcener did with this film, taking a relatively common premise and constructing one of the most heartwarming entries into a taut genre, should be praised, as should the exceptional performances, which work in tandem with the soulful storytelling that shows that even though Enough Said takes on a theme we’ve seen so many times before, it does so in a way that’s fresh, exuberant and brimming with life – and when such a small film can seemingly revitalize an entire genre that’s notoriously unoriginal, that’s the sign of a truly special piece of filmmaking.