Playing a part can be a way for someone to step out of their life and into another, imagining another version of themselves that might feel entirely distant from who they are. But dressing up or acting isn’t always a performance, and it’s possible for a person to feel more comfortable when they’re acting as someone else. The Man I Love centers on a magnetic, eccentric protagonist who, having recently recovered from debilitating illness, immerses himself in a production where he’s playing the lead role, which means a great deal to him but may ultimately offer more stress than is healthy as he struggles to maintain some sense of stability in his actual life.
Jimmy (Rami Malek) is on the mend after contracting pneumonia, and he’s ready to get back to work as the star of a play based on Michel Tremblay’s work. When he’s not rehearsing, he’s throwing lavish parties with many friends. As his loyal partner Dennis (Tom Sturridge) dotes on him and ensures that he continues taking his medication, he begins an affair with his neighbor Vincent (Luther Ford), who falls hard for Jimmy despite the objections of his roommate Leslie (Maisy Stella), who is concerned since Jimmy has AIDS. As he throws himself more and more into the play, Jimmy begins to lose control and succumb to the pressure of achieving the perfection he so desperately needs.
Filmmaker Ira Sachs returns to Toronto for the fourth time with this film, which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Mauricio Zacharias. Like his film Passages, this focuses on characters who are abundantly comfortable with their sexuality and who sometimes take certain liberties as a result with what they feel is acceptable, with Jimmy reminiscent of Franz Rogowski’s Tomas in the way that he seems to excuse his own behavior even if no one else feels quite as forgiving. The film’s style is similar to Peter Hujar’s Day in its directness and focus on slice-of-life moments that are nothing extraordinary but have a banal beauty of sorts that allows the characters to become more fully fleshed out through everyday behavior.
Malek is best known for his introverted role in Mr. Robot and for his Oscar-winning performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. This part allows him to sing in a much more intimate and relaxed way, and there’s an intensity to the way that he moves which hints at how he’s feeling in that moment and coping with things. He has strong support from both Sturridge and Ford, who offer differing levels of enthusiasm in their many interactions and in how they do and don’t prioritize their own well-being over Jimmy’s. There are a number of other familiar faces in the ensemble, including Rebecca Hall as Jimmy’s loving sister and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as her more realistic and concerned husband, whose reaction to a memorable monologue by Jimmy that gets quite explicit is among the film’s most striking moments.
Sachs has never been too interested in making fast-moving movies with identifiable plot developments, preferring instead to spend a good deal of time getting to know people as they move through a particular day, week, month, or year of their lives. That strategy works well enough here, though its appeal sometimes ebbs and flows along with Jimmy’s mental state. Sachs continues to demonstrate a worthwhile and insightful perspective on people, and his spotlight of a man living with AIDS in New York City feels raw and authentic, even if Jimmy didn’t really exist and is instead a composite of a few different figures.
Movie Rating: 6/10
The Man I Love makes its Canadian premiere in the Special Presentations section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
