With a title like Just Another Love Story, you know this film is going to be anything but and will actively go against the grain of the expected norm.

And indeed this is the case; the film is a gripping and exciting neo-noir thriller that will at points have you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately, the tension which is so painstakingly built up is dashed upon to rocks of incredulity and prevents the film from being truly coherent.

It opens with “Love scene No. 1” - a man lying bleeding to death in the rain, narrating his own demise.

“Love scene No. 2” is a man sitting, weeping as a gun is pointed at his head, declaring his love for a woman off camera. She is holding the gun; he moves the gun to his heart, and the gun fires.

“Love scene No. 3” sees a woman driving at speed, speaking hurriedly on the phone until a stalled car makes her crash, broken glass and twisted metal in painful slow motion.

You end up asking: Who are these people? How are they connected? Why was he shot? And the rest of this neo-noir mystery deals with resolving these enigmas.

Married man Jonas, witnessing the crash rushes to help. Through his curiosity, a series of misunderstandings and social pressures, he ends up pretending to be the woman’s love, now 90 per cent blind and suffering from amnesia and he steadily falls deeper and deeper in love with her.

Trying to keep up this double life becomes more and more of a strain and the further he becomes involved, the harder it is for him to escape.

To further complicate things, a strange man seems to be following Jonas providing yet another level of intrigue as the background of the mysterious woman starts to float to the surface.

For the most part, Just Another Love Story is as gripping as it is unconventional. But the film falters with some dramatic scenes which are supposed to have a poignant significance but are unintentionally funny.

You could put this down to its film noir sensibilities – it’s a genre that requires a leap of faith from its audience – but the effect is to spend a lot of time assembling something beautiful only to clumsily smash it at the last minute, like someone fumbling as they place the last champagne glass on a pyramid.

However, it is original and bravely shot and for that level of intrigue alone, it is worth seeing.

Just Another Love Story (18) is out in cinemas today (July 24)