Were they ever really in love?

To be honest, I felt like their relationship with each other was (as another person in another thread put it) going through the motions. It felt like they were just in a relationship for the sake of being in one, and their love did NOT seem all that convincingly real. I know love is complicated but they spend more time ignoring each other's texts and presences in this film than anything else.

My thoughts about why it isn't "love":

1. This is a whirlwind romance, and both are swept off their feet. It is not 'love' they feel, but it's the 'ideal of love'. When they are together, they don't seem to be all that much in love, they merely seem to be emulating it (if that makes sense).

2. When Anna realises she has to go back to the UK, she doesn't seem to be overly cut up. She's mildly concerned, yes, but she doesn't strike me as the type of person who is having to make heartbreaking decisions. She knows they're going to be split up soon, and she's sitting on a wall reading a book and ignoring him. That doesn't say love, that just says "you don't matter all that much to me". If it was absolute love, every second would have been with him and focused on him rather than that moment of ignorance.

3. The subject of marriage is brought up if they want to be together. They BOTH hum and haw about the whole thing. They're supposed to be in love and devoted to each other and yet they both put off thinking about it, adding even more time apart.

4. They both move on FAR too easily; it shocked me how quickly they're seen getting along with their lives. They're working, they're sleeping around with other people, they're moving in with other people. Sorry but if you were in love, would you be as quick to move on while you were STILL working on a way to be with them? That doesn't say anything about love to me.

5. After their marriage, they are, again, BOTH moved in with different people. I'm sorry, but WHAT? Are you SERIOUS? You're married, you're waiting the six month deadline for issues with the Visa to be resolved, and...excuse me? You're not only having intercourse with another person but you're LIVING with them too? How is that love? I can undrstand "flings" (everyone needs human connection) but BOTH of them are having serious relationships with different people. It still doesn't scream love to me (it almost screams 'back up plan'.)

6. Jacob actually seemed much happier with Samantha than he ever did with Anna. They seem to enjoy each other's company truthfully (Anna seems to be tolerating her boyfriend more than anything else). I think Anna was slightly happier in London with her friends and her good job.

7. Anna invites her parents over to meet the new boyfriend, etc. That seems really suggestive that she's moving on with her life and forgetting about Jacob (only when the boyfriend - name escapes me at the moment - mentions getting engaged does she actually have memory or thought of Jacob).

8. The ending said it all; they're together in the shower, and then they're like strangers...there isn't any connection at all between them. Every hug is tentative and shy, every look is awkward...they should be past that, so they really have grown apart completely. She's looking for jobs and he's not really interested, they're even on opposite sides of the room. There's nothing that suggests encouragement or excitement or love there. Nothing.

I just don't feel like they were ever in love, I feel like it was the beginning of a relationship that never took off.

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We've become a race of peeping toms.

They seemed more like inexperienced people who were so giddy at the thought of someone liking them. I didn't see love.

Every sin is an escape from emptiness.