Shakespeare knew that nothing touches the heart like lovers separated by fate – and director and screenwriter Will Bridges and co-writer Brett Goldstein put this truism into practice in Aeverything from you.

Set in the near future, the film follows Simon (Goldstein) and Laura (Imogen Poots), best friends who are clearly in love but can’t find the words or the courage to tell each other the truth. In their world, scientists have developed a test to find a soulmate, which Simon reluctantly pays for Laura. The test works and she finds a man named Lucas (Steven Cree). She marries him and they have a child. Simon stays in her life, showing up when she needs him most, while she tries to make a move on Laura’s friend Andrea (Zawe Ashton). Eventually, the two friends can no longer deny their feelings for each other and begin a passionate affair.

Aside from the sci-fi element of the soulmate test, it’s familiar romantic drama fodder, but thanks to its sharp script and stunning lead performances, it’s of the highest quality. The longing, particularly from Goldstein, is palpable and devastating. It’s so visceral and painful at times that it made me sick, the way it evokes the exquisite torture of unrequited love. Goldstein and Poots have an electric chemistry, the air between them practically shimmering with desire whenever they’re on screen together. Their love scenes are genuinely sexy, their taboo nature translating into high-stakes eroticism for the audience.

Goldstein, with his vulgar mouth and his stern exterior, is a romantic at heart, a fact Ted Lasso Fan knows it well. If you need a ravishingly romantic gesture or a heartbreaking breakup, he can write (and act) that better than most. But perhaps his greatest gift is his ability to capture the essence of heartbreak. Simon is addicted to Laura, so much so that he doesn’t know how to love anyone else. His desire and pain are raw and throaty as he turns inside out with longing. Poots is an excellent screen partner, a beautiful crybaby (an underrated skill) and sensitively enigmatic in her deep and different love for two perfectly decent men.

Bridges shoots with a subtle sense of mood, setting Simon and Laura’s time as lovers in breezy rural settings, contrasted with the cold grime of the city when they’re apart, and deftly conveys the moments of peace and joy they find in each other’s company. Made up of intimate moments and stolen conversations, the film features Goldstein’s sophisticated blend of comedy and heartbreak. It’s laughter through tears that makes the relationship seem alive and vibrant.

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I watched most of the film with my heart pounding, 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 premise without needing contrived plot acrobatics to keep its lovers apart. How often do we get romantic dramas these days that aren’t high-concept or otherwise mired in unnecessary frills? Films that are just deeply human at their core.

Everything from you is an adult love story that challenges the notion of “soulmates” while acknowledging that love is based in large part on choice, rather than the guiding hand of a higher power or preordained destiny. The small decisions Simon and Laura make along the way make their love so incredibly difficult and fuel their deepest regrets. But there is no suggestion that such regrets can be overcome or that there is an easy solution to the chaos of love and desire. Instead, the film simply destroys us as much as it destroys its two characters, delivering a tearjerker of the highest order. Watching Everything from you is like squeezing a bruise and oh baby it hurts so good. Grade: A-

Note: In this article, director Will Bridges was incorrectly identified as Michael Bridges.