A young woman enters into a love triangle with the ghost of her new beau’s dead girlfriend in Nina Forever. Holly (Abigail Hardingham) is a paramedical student and supermarket worker, who decides to pursue a relationship with her co-worker Rob (Cian Barry), despite the emotional baggage of the fact that he is still grieving over his recently deceased girlfriend Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy). Things seemingly start off well for Holly and Rob, however as soon as they become intimate, Nina’s bloody ghost rises from the bed and tells Holly to stay away from her boyfriend. Holly and Rob proceed to do everything they can to please Nina’s spirit, but she just won’t go away.
Nina Forever is a British dark comedy, which visualizes the emotional baggage that can come with a new relationship. Nina’s untimely death makes it much more difficult for Rob to get over her, with Nina’s ghost still considering herself to be Rob’s girlfriend, since they never actually broke up. This becomes a major source of stress for Holly, especially since she does everything in her power to erase Nina from Rob’s life. However, Nina still keeps showing up and leaving bloody stains on the bed sheets.
Nina Forever is described as a messed up fairy tale, which is a pretty apt description of the film. The film is quite clever in its way of visualizing that some people can never fully get over past relationships, especially if their significant other is deceased. Nina tends to show up at the most awkward times, which becomes a serious challenge in Holly and Rob’s new relationship.
Playing Nina must not have been easy for actress Fiona O’Shaughnessy, who spends the entire film fully nude and covered with blood. However, despite her appearance, Nina is still a quite sassy individual and she practically steals the film. That all said, the real emotional crux of the film belongs to Abigail Hardingham as Holly, who grows increasingly frustrated as the film progresses. It can be said that Holly learns exactly what kind of person she as her relationship with Rob (and Nina) progresses.
Also worth noting is the interesting editing style of Nina Forever, which would frequently crosscut back and forth chronologically. This is quite apparent during an early sex scene between Holly and Rob, which is also the introduction of Nina, and the editing here seems to be heavily inspired by similar crosscutting seen in Don’t Look Now.
Altogether, Nina Forever is a quite enjoyable film about a very twisted love triangle.
LIKED IT Nina Forever opens today at Cineplex Yonge and Dundas