In Review: ‘With Love and a Major Organ’

With Love and a Major Organ is written by Julia Lederer, based on her stage play, and is set in a world where hearts are made of inanimate objects and people suppress emotions to escape into technology.

The film focuses on the life of a vibrant Anabel (Anna Maguire), who rips out her heart for the man she loves, the strangely unfeeling George (Hamza Haq) who promptly disappears with it.

Veena Sood plays George’s mom, Mona, an over-protective but caring mother whose emotion-suppressing techniques have revolutionized this not-so-distant world from our own.

With Love and a Major Organ is a charming film that at first feels a bit like a romantic-comedy. It starts by introducing us to Anabel as a Virtual Insurance Agent. She is trying to keep as much of a positive outlook on life as possible. Her work and others around her, however, constantly tamper with her upbeat nature. There is constant expectation to conform that is even more pronounced by everyone depending on ‘LifeZapp’, an app that tells people what to like, and even who to like.

As Anabel continues to live her life outside these societal pressures, she lets herself fall in love with George. He is a sort of ‘opposite’ to Anabel, as someone who does not fully process emotions. His life is quite methodical and straight forward. Unfortunately when Anabel confesses her love for him, he is unable to reciprocate.

Heartbroken, Anabel rips her heart out and gives it to George to do whatever he wants to with it. George decides to replace his own heart with Anabel’s. It is here that the film takes a different tone in how the story unfolds as we see George discover the whole gamut of emotions. He sets off on a journey of ‘self discovery’ making Mona, his over-protective mother quite anxious. Meanwhile, Anabel has become ‘cold hearted’ and disengaged with the world and people at large. As their respective worlds turn topsy turvy, we see Anabel, George and Mona unravel as they are forced to confront their actions and emotions… or lack thereof.

With elements of magic realism, With Love and a Major Organ addresses our inability to connect to each other as society continues to push us towards more online interactions. The film is about empathy and about keeping an open mind. It stretches our imagination while asking us to acknowledge the courage it takes to be true to one’s own ‘heart’.

Closing with my conversation with Kim Albright, the director of With Love and a Major Organ. She shares details about the film’s production and some other great insights into the film.