Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots devastate in romantic drama All of You

Shakespeare understood that nothing tugs at the heartstrings like star-crossed lovers — and director/writer Will Bridges and co-writer Brett Goldstein employ that truism to shattering effect in All of You.

Set in a near future, the film follows Simon (Goldstein) and Laura (Imogen Poots), best friends who are quite obviously in love with each other but unable to find the words or the courage to tell each other the truth. In their world, scientists have devised a test to find your soulmate, which Simon reluctantly pays for Laura to do. It works and she matches with a man named Lucas (Steven Cree). She marries him, and they have a child. Simon remains in her life, popping up when she needs him most while trying to make a go of it with Laura's friend, Andrea (Zawe Ashton). Eventually, the two friends can no longer deny their feelings for each other and embark upon a torrid affair.

Apart from the sci-fi element of the soulmate test, it's familiar fodder for romantic drama, but it's of the highest caliber thanks to its sharp script and devastating central performances. The pining, particularly from Goldstein, is palpable and devestating. It's so visceral and painful at times that I felt nauseous from the ways it evokes the exquisite torture of unrealized love. Goldstein and Poots have electric chemistry, the air between them practically shimmering with want any time they share the screen. Their love scenes are genuinely sexy, their taboo nature translating to a high-stakes eroticism for the audience.

Goldstein, with his foul mouth and stern exterior, is a romantic at heart, a fact any Ted Lasso fan knows well. If you need a swooningly romantic gesture or a heartrending breakup, he can write (and act) it better than most. But perhaps his greatest gift is his ability to capture the essence of heartache. Simon is addicted to Laura, so much so that he doesn't know how to love anyone else. His want and his hurt are raw and guttural as he turns himself inside out with yearning. Poots is an excellent screen partner, a beautiful crier (an underrated skill), and empathetically enigmatic in her deep and different love for two utterly decent men.

Bridges shoots with a subtle sense of mood, setting Simon and Laura's time as lovers in breezy pastoral settings in opposition to the cold grit of the city when they're apart, deftly conveying the snatches of peace and joy they find in each other's company. The film is composed of intimate moments and stolen conversations, boasting Goldstein's well-honed blend of comedy and heartbreak. It's laughter through tears, which makes the relationship feel vibrantly, vividly alive.

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I watched much of the film with my heart in my throat, enjoying the catharsis of this doomed romance and welcoming this oddly satisfying form of emotional torture. There's something to be said for a film that delivers on its simple conceit without any need for contrived plot gymnastics to keep its lovers apart. How often nowadays do we get romantic dramas that aren't high concept or otherwise buried in unnecessary bells and whistles? Movies that are, at their core, just deeply human.

All of You is a love story for grown-ups that puts the very notion of "soulmates" up for debate while also acknowledging that so much of love is built on choice, not the guiding hand of some higher power or predetermined destiny. The small decisions Simon and Laura make along the way are what make their love so impossibly difficult and fuel their deepest regrets. But it doesn't suggest that such regrets can be overcome or that there is an easy solution to the messiness of love and desire. Instead, the film simply wrecks us as much as it does its two characters, delivering a weepie of the highest order. Watching All of You is like pressing on a bruise, and ooh, baby, it hurts so good. Grade: A-

Note: This article previously misidentified the director Will Bridges as Michael Bridges.