As the hot Priest from “Fleabag” once wisely said, “love is awful.” And while that remains a truth very much universally acknowledged, love is also unbearably messy and confusing, and the universe seems to take a particularly nasty dig at people who yearn for their other half. Joe Swanberg is no stranger to the complexities of human relationships, and from the man who helped shape the mumblecore comes another deeply intimate film, “The Sun Never Sets.” Set against the stunning Alaskan landscape, Dakota Fanning and Jake Johnson hit it out of the park with their adorable chemistry. The film asks us a simple question: how do you decide what kind of partner is right for you when you’re approaching your 30s and desperately need to make a decision before it’s too late? Fanning’s character finds herself in a limbo over a dependable guy who knows how to manage a family and a hotter and younger alternative who’s more adventurous. The love triangle in the film is as real and convincing as it gets, and this is probably what I loved the most. There are no grand gestures or heroic moments here, just three normal people entangled in a love triangle none of them were prepared for, while the idea of monogamy, which we expect from a relationship, takes a serious hit amidst this chaos. There’s a heated argument in a men’s washroom that easily takes the cake as the film’s best moment, but without giving anything else away, let’s dive into everything that goes down in “The Sun Never Sets.”
What happens in the film?
Wendy, now in her early 30s, wants to buy a boat that reminds her of the one she used to spend time on with her father during her younger days. But her current life doesn’t allow her to make a decision, since her boyfriend, Jack, is more of an indoorsy person with two kids to look after. Not to mention it’s also a bummer when Wendy’s best friend, Lindsay, tells her that she’s pregnant. Lindsay was the last friend Wendy had who didn’t have a kid, so she starts feeling like everybody is moving on with life except her. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love Jack to death. However, Jack is pretty clear about not wanting any more kids, and he isn’t even willing to make an effort to get into the things Wendy enjoys, whether it’s camping, trekking, or buying a boat. Jack is a basketball coach in a middle school and he’s content with the life he’s built for himself and his two kids. When he senses that Wendy is feeling like she’s uncertain about the relationship, he tells Wendy that they should take a break for the summer, and she should explore if there’s something else she desires. Wendy is not someone who is big on taking risks, so it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to jeopardize her stable relationship with Jack, but he pretty much forces her hand to take a break. In his defence, Jack believes that years down the line, Wendy might start hating him for all the things she couldn’t have by being with him. With no real choice of her own, Wendy agrees to go on a date, only to end up crying alone in her car once it’s over. A few days later, Brad, one of Wendy’s friends, pretty much manipulates her into agreeing to go on a date with him, and once again, Wendy finds herself with no real choice in the matter. While she tries to keep a conversation going with Brad, Wendy spots her ex boyfriend, Chuck, across the bar, and there’s an immediate spark the moment the two of them lock eyes. Wendy bails on Brad, and starts talking to Chuck, who’s a pilot now with his own teeny tiny plane. Both of them acknowledge that they didn’t do enough the last time they were together, so they clink their glasses and decide to give their story another chance. By the end of the night, Wendy and Chuck end up sleeping together and spend the next few days living in a dream, trekking, camping, flying over the lake, and doing all sorts of things together. But when Wendy tells Jack what’s going on between her and Chuck, Jack immediately starts to behave differently, and he asks Wendy to not see Chuck anymore. Wendy knows that she wants to explore her relationship with Chuck now, and even though Jack is gutted by this, there’s nothing he can do about it. Jack offers Wendy to have kids and give her everything she could possibly want, but Wendy is clear about the fact that she wants this break that Jack himself insisted upon.
Why does Wendy refuse to go camping with Jack?
While Jack spends his days moping about Wendy’s new chapter with Chuck, Wendy is having quite the time. Jack tells his ex-wife to not tell their kids about the Wendy situation, and he is constantly facetiming his only friend for emotional support. But Wendy and Chuck’s honeymoon period comes to an abrupt end when she asks him to come with her to her friend Katelyn’s gallery opening. Chuck makes it clear that he isn’t into art, so he doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of her friends. Now Wendy could’ve gone alone, but she decides to invite Jack to come with her. Jack goes all out trying to impress Wendy’s friends, from buying a painting to taking everyone out for dinner. At the end of the night, Jack manages to persuade Wendy to come home with him, and she clearly has feelings for the man, so she agrees. They end up sleeping together, and Wendy comes home late at night to find Chuck waiting for her. Wendy cannot lie to Chuck, so she tells him what happened, and he asks her to stop seeing Jack ever again. The next day, Jack is still riding the high from the previous night, shopping for camping gear so he can take Wendy and the kids on a trip. When Wendy tells him that she can’t go on this trip, Jack flips out, and he decides that he is going to move on with his life and see other people as well.
Why does Wendy break up with Chuck?
When Wendy takes Chuck to see the boat she’s been planning to buy, he tells her he’s not ready for it yet because it’s not a “necessity.” Says the man who owns an airplane. Chuck also acts sketchy when the two of them go apartment hunting, since he claims that his credit score isn’t ideal and he’d much rather rent a place with cash. After that, Chuck just disappears for a couple of days, without even feeling the need to tell his girlfriend where he is. Meanwhile, Lindsey tells Wendy that one of their mutual friends has seen Jack on a date with another woman. Left alone by Chuck, Wendy decides to text Jack again, sending a picture of his daughter and saying how she misses her. Jack is in the middle of a date with a woman named Sara, and he’s clearly into her. He takes Sara back to his place, and while Wendy is still texting him, he watches Sara hop into the jacuzzi wearing lingerie. Jack asks Wendy to meet him the next day over lunch, so that he can run to Sara immediately. When the two meet for lunch, Wendy reacts extremely poorly when Jack tells her about him sleeping with another woman, and it’s pretty clear that these two aren’t over each other no matter who the third person is. Jack still claims that he’s in love with Wendy, but she storms out of the cafe instead of listening to him. Chuck finally returns from the camping trip he supposedly went on with his mates, only for Wendy to ask him to move out of her house, which is pretty understandable. He thinks she’s overreacting, but Wendy has had enough and needs to reclaim her space to process her emotions and figure out how to move forward.
Why does Wendy fight Jack on trivia night?
After being kicked out of Wendy’s house, Chuck ends up finding a sweet crib for himself by the lake. Instead of having bitter feelings, Wendy decides to invite him to the club where she goes for trivia night. Now there’s no way Wendy could’ve anticipated that Jack and Sara will end up in that very same club. When Jack says hi to Wendy and Chuck, pretending like they’re his old friends, poor Sara has no idea what’s really going on. While Wendy and Chuck are struggling to come up with the right answers, Sara and Jack are hitting it out of the park. What follows is a heated confrontation when Wendy barges into the men’s washroom while Jack is inside. Wendy is surprised that Jack is here, since he knows very well that she’s a regular at this pub and he’s never shown any interest in trivia before tonight. However, Jack insists that he’s here because for the first time in his life, he was invited here. Wendy thinks Jack is trying to make him jealous, while Jack thinks she’s erratic. Eventually, Wendy gives up, saying Jack’s won, and she wants him back in his life, do anything what he wants, this is exactly where Jack was when he first found out about Chuck. But Jack says that Wendy doesn’t mean any of this, so she just gives up and storms out, once again. After Wendy leaves, Jack decides that it’d be wise to break up with Sara right away, after telling Wendy he won’t do that just a couple of minutes ago. He comes clean to Sara, telling her about his history with Wendy, and the poor woman is in disbelief that he led her on like this. After Sara leaves, Jack tries to talk to Wendy, which infuriates Chuck, and the two men nearly get into a fight before Wendy intervenes and scolds them both, before finally leaving for good.
Who does Wendy end up with?
Wendy, Chuck, and Jack all take some much needed time apart from each other and focus on their own lives. This distance actually gives all of them some clarity to reflect, and I think Wendy makes the most of it. She focuses on her job more, and builds a cassinet from scratch for Lindsey’s soon to be born child. She also realises that while she’s been busy juggling between Chuck and Jack, she forgot to be there for her friends, especially Lindsey. The boat seller calls Wendy to inform her that a buyer is willing to take the boat with cash, and she decides it’s best to let it go. With a newfound clarity and peace of mind, Wendy decides to meet Jack at the same table where she found out he’s sleeping with Sara. The two of them laugh about it and reconcile without any hard feelings. Jack offers to buy the boat for Wendy, but she knows that there’s more to life than just one person or a possession. Both Jack and Wendy confess how much they love each other, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to get back together immediately. They decide to do the smarter thing and reconnect slowly rather than rushing things again. Wendy also meets Chuck, and even though he’s seeing another woman now, it’s established that he wouldn’t mind being friends with her. In the final scene, Wendy drives to the dockyard to see the boat one final time, and the new owner of the boat turns out to be the guy she went on a date with when Chuck forced her to take a break. Thankfully, Danny is a sweet person who doesn’t take it personally that Wendy doesn’t even recognise him at first, and he asks her to hop on the boat so that they can work on it and take it out for a spin later. So, at the end of it all, what really grounded Wendy and stopped her from tying herself to a man was the fact that she finally spent some time by herself and realised that settling down with someone isn’t the only thing that can make you happy. More often than not, we put too much pressure on ourselves to follow the herd and fit into the social structure, but seldom do we stop to think about how liberating it can be to step out of line and do something entirely different. As John Steinbeck wrote in “East of Eden,” “If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.”
