Melodrive review – angsty indie singer-songwriter agonises over his infidelities

A young man is haunted by the possibility that he is turning into his father and becoming the thing he hates the most in the world – a cheating partner. This is Ethan (Matt Wake), a fresh-faced indie singer-songwriter who treats three women badly over the course of this earnest and angsty British drama with droopy songs. Ethan’s agonising over the suffering caused by his infidelity – to himself mainly you’d think – may have you reaching for a tiny violin. At points I could’ve smashed his acoustic guitar over his head.

It begins when Ethan’s wife Freya (Christine During) boots him out after discovering he’s had an affair with her friend. Ethan is broke, his music is going nowhere, so he buys the least rock’n’roll car ever – a two-door yellow Vauxhall – and takes a road trip to his home town in Devon to see his mum Nora, played by ex-Eastenders actor Michelle Collins. Hers is the only recognisable face here – and some of the performances feel a bit drama school graduation film. The fact that Melodrive is filmed on the tightest of budgets doesn’t help.

Ethan’s dad still lives locally with his much younger wife and teenage son. Also still in town is Ethan’s first love (Megan Alderson). Then his wife’s best friend – the one he’s been seeing – shows up.

The thing I found infuriating about it is how understanding this trio of women are to Ethan’s needs. Never mind how much he has hurt them; they are full of sympathy for how Ethan’s shitty behaviour is bound up with his relationship with his dad. The film lacks curiosity into their inner lives. It’s reasonably entertaining but just a little bit gauche in the message it implies – that somehow talented people can be forgiven anything, exempted from the usual rules of human behaviour.

• Melodrive is on digital platforms from 14 February.