This film, from the director of Kramer vs. Kramer, asks the question: Is love just a trick nature plays on us or is it the only meaning there is to this crazy world? According to the film, love is both.
The film's narrator, Harry Stevenson (Freeman), provides a bleak Greek mythology-esque explanation for the existence of love. He proposes that the gods invented love because they were bored. When they were no longer bored, they decided to try it out for themselves. They had to invent laughter in order to stand it.
Thus, love is both a blessing and a curse. The mission of Feast is not to resolve this contradiction, but to deeply explore it. It presents a tapestry of stories, all of which take place in an Oregon town. These stories show love as secrets kept and secrets revealed, love as fixating on the past while also planning for the future, and love as powerful, yet fragile.
The most piercing observation in the film is that of the cyclical pattern of love - how it entails falling, losing and falling again. The film's progression mirrors this pattern in order to emphasize this point. Consequently, Feast of Love questions if the knowledge that we will eventually lose will in turn prevent us from falling. The answer? No - our hearts are so brave that even at the prospect of a bleak future, we do not run away. By the end of the film, you may not be able to tease apart love's conflicting characteristics, but you will walk away with the understanding that love is neither simple nor rational.
