52 Films by Women Vol 10. 14. THE LOVED ONE (Director: Irene Emma Villamor)

 

Pictured: Ellie (Anne Curtis) and Eric (Jericho Rosales) in a scene from the bittersweet Filipino romantic drama, 'The Loved One', directed by Irene Emma Villamor. Still courtesy of Viva Films / Cornerstone Studios

In some ways, the Filipino film industry appears to be more gender-balanced than other film industries around the world. Not only are there many women working as directors, but films directed by women are popular with Filipino audiences. The most successful Filipino release of 2025 was Meet, Greet and Bye directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana, about a matriarch who will only undergo chemotherapy if her four adult children arrange for her to meet the star of a Korean drama. The Philippines has a large population, 117.7 million, served by approximately 560 cinemas, predominantly multiplexes (with multiple screens) in shopping malls. While the majority of films are US imports, local films also compete. Recently, there has been a trend towards remaking Korean and Japanese content (Wonderful Nightmare and A Special Memory respectively). When you watch a Filipino commercial film, you might be surprised to hear both Talalog and English – these are the Philippines’ two official languages, English being ‘widely used in education, business and government’ (source: AI overview). One recent release directed by a woman is I Fell, It’s Fine, directed by Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo. Films focus on relatable if heightened dilemmas, usually involving young protagonists played by well-known actors. The titles don’t promise an exceptional, one-of-a-kind experience. The films suggest a form of cultural comfort food, reflecting the audience’s aspirations, obligations (caring for family) and shared concerns.

The Loved One, written and directed by Irene Emma Villamor, in a case in point. Villamor, whose previous film, Only We Know, was another of the Philippines’ most popular releases in 2025, has crafted a story of a successful-but-now-single coder, Eric (Jericho Rosales) who reminisces while waiting in a restaurant for his ex-lover, Ellie (Anne Curtis). She is meeting him several years after their split to sign for her financial share of their former apartment. Eric and Ellie were together for ten years. The film outlines their relationship, from Ellie’s initial infatuation with Eric, to the disagreements – and Eric’s one lapse in judgment – that drove them apart. A pivotal point of contention is Ellie’s attitude to marriage. She rejects Eric’s proposal, insisting that she loves him but doesn’t need a ring and a big ceremony to make it official.

Villamor presents the present-day scenes in black and white, reflecting Eric’s sadness. The camera tracks along a set of dividing pillars, framing Eric at his table as if he were a zoo animal trapped in his misery. He doesn’t know that Ellie is watching him, waiting before she makes her entrance. In the extensive (colour) flashbacks, Eric’s attitudes are revealed to be conservative while Ellie, who comes from a far more privileged background, wants to make her life meaningful. ‘I loved you because you cared about your mother and your siblings,’ she tells him.

Why doesn’t Ellie let Eric know what she wants right at the start of their relationship? We guess that she isn’t sure. They meet at the wedding of Greg (Adrian Alandy) and Kyla (Max Eigenmann), Ellie joining Eric’s otherwise empty table, angling for his attention by peeping around a vase, then, after standing for the bride and groom, sitting next to him, ordering red wine for them both. She pursues him. For his part, Eric admires Ellie from a distance. In a brief scene, he watches her dance. It isn’t long before he collects her from her parents’ house for their first date. Ellie is astonished to be greeted by his moped, a sign of his lower social class. ‘I’m wearing a dress,’ she explains. Nevertheless, she rides pillion with him, wearing a spare helmet.

Pictured: First date on a motorcycle. Eric (Jericho Rosales) and Ellie (Anne Curtis) in a scene from the Filipino romantic drama, 'The Loved One', directed by Irene Emma Villamor. Still courtesy of Viva Films / Cornerstone Studios

Eric eventually buys a car, a symbol of his growing financial commitment to their relationship. Whilst driving, Ellie asks him whether he wants to go on holiday with her. ‘We don’t have to go far.’ She suggests Bali. Complaining that he has a lot of work, he agrees, adding, ‘for three days.’ The trip involves walking, not one of Ellie’s strengths. ‘We’re lost,’ she complains. Informing Eric that her leg hurts, she sits down and won’t move. Eventually Eric carries her on his back.

‘I’ve quit my job,’ she tells him during one of their dates, adding that she didn’t feel like a corporate person. At this point, Eric looks anxious. Will he have to earn enough money for them both? ‘What will you do?’ he asks. ‘I don’t know,’ she replies. We learn from her father that Ellie has had many boyfriends. Eric stuck around longer than any of them.

Ellie isn’t immediately sympathetic when he tells he that she was passed over for promotion. She tells him she wants to help people. In their new apartment, she stands on a balcony and tells Eric, ‘look at all our privilege’. ‘In a few years’, she adds, gesturing to the city, ‘this will all be gone.’ Eric doesn’t share her sense of privilege but accepts that she wants to work overseas on a project. When Ellie she returns, she takes a job working at a nursery, ‘First Steps’. Eric sees her talking to a colleague, Dennis, and is immediately jealous.

Incidents drive a wedge between them. Ellie takes another job, working in Nepal for four months. At a work party celebrating his promotion, Eric leaves with his colleague, Nicole (Catriona Gray). They kiss in a hotel room before Eric receives a call. Ellie is back in the country. ‘I can’t do this,’ he explains. Nicole is sympathetic. ‘You need a friend not a lover,’ she tells him. ‘Don’t wait up,’ Eric tells Ellie on the phone. When he arrives home, he notices that she has left him some food. He finds her in bed. Ellie offers to heat up his meal, but Eric refuses. Their relationship exists without warmth.

At some point, Ellie becomes pregnant. Sadly, she miscarriages. Villamor shows Eric leaving her hospital bed while she is consoled by her family. When she returns home at 2:30am from a reunion party, resenting that he had left twenty messages, they have a blazing row. Eric accuses her of not wanting the baby, implying a lack of commitment to their relationship. Ellie learns about Eric’s near-infidelity, Eric having confessed to Greg. She visits him at work, scowling at Nicole through a glass partition. ‘You told Greg. Greg told Kyla. Kyla told me,’ Ellie cries. Eric’s colleague stares at Ellie with concern. Eventually, Ellie leaves him. Eric moves back in with his mother ostensibly to care for her. In one scene, Eric shows Ellie the apartment bereft of possessions, a metaphor for their emotionally empty relationship.

Pictured: Shouting match. Ellie (Anne Curtis) is faced with an angry Eric (Jericho Rosales) in a scene from the Filipino bittersweet romantic drama, 'The Loved One'. Still courtesy of Viva Films / Cornerstone Studios

‘Do you think Greg and Kyla will last?’ Ellie asks Eric at one point. It is the wrong question. At a family dinner, the couple argue over the policy direction of the Philippines government. Eric supports them, Ellie does not. This is symptomatic of their failure to share a point of view. Neither one really sacrifices their aspirations for the other. Theirs is a textbook case of incompatibility.

When they meet several years on, Ellie explains that she heard that Eric was in a relationship. ‘I’m on Bumble,’ he explains, adding, ‘just dates.’ Ellie appears not to be in a relationship. ‘Don’t do this,’ she tells him, referring to the gesture of acrimony that handing over a cheque entails. She wants to be friends. For his part, he tells her that he meant his text, ‘love you still’.

Beyond its account of a failed relationship acted by an attractive cast, The Loved One offers no incidental pleasures. There are no witty supporting characters, sumptuous food scenes or songs on the soundtrack that linger in the memory. Rosales and Curtis have undoubted chemistry. Some scenes are replayed and expanded for emphasis, notably Ellie’s 2:30am return; we see the start of the row, then, later on, the full heated exchange, including the repeated use of the f-verb, which gave the film its UK ‘15’ certificate (‘strong language’). Released in the Philippines on 11 February 2026, in time for Valentine’s Day, the film asks its young audience to consider their own relationships and encourages them to avoid Eric and Ellie’s mistakes.

Reviewed at Screen 7, Cineworld O2, North Greenwich, Southeast London, Friday 27 March 2026, 20:00 screening