A not-so-gentle character study of how two types of love can clash and thoroughly destroy lives more thoroughly than the political & militarily posturing of nations. The differing transformations of the young girls is not unexpected yet still elicits a strong response after a certain point. At real fault is the lone father; convincing himself that he is innocent because he is knows himself and stays true to his convictions. Actually he is a weak ponce with a large vocabulary and a slave to his libedo which pulls him to experience everything, all the while justifying himself through his philosophy of life. Consider him a psychopath with a yet-to-be-realized Cassanova complex. But then all older men merely seem sophisticated. Always a pleasure to see Benning, Spall, or Platt being cast.

As corny as this may sound, Ginger(Elle Fanning) and Rosa(Alice Englert) are well-nigh impossible to separate since before they were born when their respective mothers(Christina Hendricks & Jodhi May) met in a maternity ward in 1945. Together, they confront their nuclear fears in different ways. Ginger takes to protests and meetings while Rosa finds religion. While Rosa has never really known her father, Ginger has Roland(Alessandro Nivola) as her father, as he prefers to be known to her, when he is not sleeping elsewhere which includes his boat. As Roland puts it, he refused to enter the military during World War II, and was jailed for his beliefs, the worst part being in solitary, but is too self-righteous to wonder why people did not act differently than he did. Ever since her first feature, the classic "Orlando," Sally Potter's films have sadly been a prime case of diminishing returns. With her latest, the evocative, yet flawed "Ginger & Rosa" which moves to its own syncopated rhythm to match the jazz records on the soundtrack, she arrests that trend somewhat by thoughtfully exploring the connection between the personal and the political while not being the first person to conflate nuclear family and nuclear explosions. By having another red-headed protagonist who seeks to be a poet, Potter is saying there is nothing greater to fear than being alone at a time in 1962 when the world was facing nuclear annihilation, which concerned citizens responded with protests in England. Note to self: get a jazz band for the next protest.