Occasionally, one can look around at the routine of daily domesticity that has become their entire existence and ask “How did this become my life?”.

One minute, you are living-up young coupled bliss; the taste of your carefree glory days still palpable on your tongue. The next minute, time is a loop of baby feedings, dog walks, silent dinners, and small talk with neighbours.

One could be forgiven if they somehow felt tempted to go back to before.

LOVE AND MATHEMATICS (“Amor y matemáticas”) begins with Billy and Lucia (Roberto Quijano and Daniela Salinas). Billy was once a boy band member, but has long since settled into a married suburban life with Lucia, their new baby, and their small dog Lucas. One day the couple gets new neighbours across the street – Pablo and Mónica (Homero Guerra and Diana Bovio).

Pablo gives the new neighbours the typical polite attention, but Mónica is rapt. She grew up a devoted fan of Billy and his band, and now finds herself drawn not only to the man he is – but also the lad he used to be.

Director Claudia Sainte-Luce is a master at capturing everyday unrest.

She infuses her stories with pathos and reserves judgement. On the surface, one could look at the way Mónica and Pablo are drawn to each-other and ask why they are fixated on the past and courting domestic drama? In Sainte-Luce hands though, our attention is called to the way both of these wayward souls embrace feeling young again, and that there is value in that.

Both Mónica and Billy have all of the adult security and comfort one could want, and yet there is still something missing. It’s ineffable, but they both clearly have a need requiring attention. Whether they have actually found it in each other or are just seeing what they want to see, the director leaves to us.

LOVE AND MATHEMATICS is an empathetic reflection on nostalgia. The film allows us a chance to look back and paint in the blanks of the present with the colours of the past. In an age where so many adult are really just kids “playing grown-ups”, moments like the ones this film captures allow broken people to feel a little less broken for a while.

This story sees them in these moments as they are, and offers a quiet hope for who they still may be.