Love, or the frequent, tragically inevitable absence of it, can be one of the most powerful forces in the world. It can reshape lives and instill them with immense joy you never thought you could have, just as it can break them into pieces when you least expect it. Finding someone you love deeply also means that, whether you like it or not, there will likely come a time when you must say goodbye.

This state of being serves as the heart of “Love of Your Life,” an initially engaging romantic drama about a woman (Margaret Qualley) who falls head over heels in love and then must find a way to keep living after it all falls apart. For anyone who’s ever been in love, it’s almost a horror film, ripping out your guts with a key revelation midway through that leaves you stumbling through deep pain alongside the central character. Unfortunately, it’s also a film that lives and ultimately dies in its fragments, lingering in some moments while fading away far too quickly in others. The snapshots it provides of a love gained and lost can be as richly beautiful as they are inescapably agonizing, though the overall picture never quite leaves the profound impact it is searching for.

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The latest from director Rachel Morrison, the great cinematographer behind everything from “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie” to “Mudbound” and “Black Panther,” who made her feature directorial debut with the recent “The Fire Inside,” it’s a consistently well-shot film fighting against a so-so script. Written by Julia Cox, whose only other feature writing credit is the sincere though superficial “Nyad,” it centers on 26-year-old Boston nurse Maya (Qualley), who one day meets Charlie (Gabriel Basso) while buying a side table from him. Sparks fly, and when she opens a drawer he couldn’t, she discovers a tape of music that becomes a genuinely haunting grace note throughout the film, decaying over the years as we trace the impact of their relationship. Soon, they become inexorably intertwined, and their lives are defined by immense, almost overwhelming happiness.

And then, this time comes to an end. Without tipping off anything about what happens, Morrison captures a gutting turning point in their relationship, and the way nothing fully prepares you for it. She doesn’t shy away from immersing us in just how devastating this can be, putting you right in the silent, sickening horror of losing something that nothing can bring back. The only trouble is that, both in the lead-up and the aftermath, you start to sense that the characters themselves are also being swallowed up by it. Though Qualley and Basso have believable chemistry, a growing sense suggests that many of their interactions are merely setting up something later.

When that later arrives, we’re meant to look back at these moments fondly, but it’s hard to feel them fully. Everything seems a little too rushed, with much of the movie existing in what feels like extended montages where more patient scenes might have carried greater weight. While those montages are beautifully shot by cinematographer Todd Banhazl, who has done interesting work on underseen films like “Braid” and “Blow the Man Down,” as well as bigger breakouts like “Hustlers,” they come and go so quickly that they strip the images of much of their power. One could generously argue that memories themselves can be fleeting, which is part of why they are often so painful to recall. However, they can still hold potent emotion. In “Love of Your Life,” the life part is missing some of that poetry.

When the film shifts to its latter half and Maya connects with a new potential love in the soulful Felix, played by the underutilized Aaron Pierre of “Rebel Ridge” and “Lanterns,” you believe they could connect, as both performers bring a quiet, wounded intensity to their interactions. But the script’s heart just isn’t in it. Some of this is by design, as Maya is still figuring out what she wants for herself. Still, the film keeps us at a peculiar distance, leaving the sense that Pierre was largely cast as a pretty face rather than a fully formed character of his own. He appears and disappears far too quickly, making him feel more like a montage than a man and robbing him of an emotional journey of his own.

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Of course, Maya is the main character, and much of the film follows her personal self-discovery. So while the film doesn’t fully instrumentalize the other characters or turn into an “Eat Pray Love”-esque journey, for all the thornier elements it introduces, it still doesn’t cut as deeply as you’d hope. In the end, for a film about the intense feelings that come with not just falling in love but having your life completely rearranged by the fallout, the emotion you’re most left with is heartbreak, though not entirely in the way the film intends.

It’s heartbreak from the pain of the story, yes, but also from wishing you had gotten to know these characters more fully, felt their emotions more deeply, and, tying back to the recurring idea of Maya’s song gaining greater resonance over time, gotten swept up in the music. [C+]

“Love of Your Life” releases in theaters starting October 7 and will be available to stream on Prime Video starting October 14.

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Chase Hutchinson is a film and television critic whose work has appeared in The Wrap, The AV Club, IndieWire, the Seattle Times, IGN, and Roger Ebert’s Far Flung Correspondents, among others. He is the President of the Seattle Film Critics Society.