The second aspect of the movie Prime that I found intriguing was the "love isn't enough" plotline. Part of me has always wanted to believe that love really is enough, but at 39 years old, I know better. By the end of this movie, Dave and Rafi knew it too.
Rafi is just getting over a difficult divorce, but at 37, she feels the pressure to find somebody else so she can still have children. In fact, having children is her dream—much like painting full time was Dave's. But as she watched Dave, who was still living at home, and who was into playing video games, and who for all appearances, looked and acted much like a boy, reality started to set in. Here's how she described her situation: "I was married to a man who couldn't love me. And now I'm with someone who can love me, but he's not really a man. At least not all the time."
And then they had the religion thing to figure out. Dave comes from a Jewish background, and while it seems more important to his mother than to him, he does eventually want to marry somebody who will agree to raise their children in a Jewish home. He just hasn't gotten around to figuring out what that should look like yet. And Rafi on the other hand has no intention of converting to Judaism.
With the vast age difference, the different mentalities, and the different goals, Rafi realizes that love just isn't enough. She needs to let him go. Even when he decides that he does want to give her a baby, she knew that he wasn't ready. He wasn't ready for marriage or kids. And this might be the first movie I've ever seen where the man and woman split up, but then didn't come rushing back to one another with a sudden realization that love conquers all.
In fact, in the end of the movie, Dave sees Rafi sitting in a restaurant a year after they have split up. With his heart pulled in her direction and his head in another, he decides to walk out the door without saying anything to her. But he looks back in through the door from the outside and when she sees him, she smiles. Then she reminisces for a moment about how good they were together, but she also knows that things haven't changed, so she embraces the nice thoughts, and then she lets them go. Sensing this, Dave walks away and the movie ends.
Sometimes, love isn't enough.
