The last time we saw Gwyneth Paltrow, she was tottering around on vertigo-inducing heels at the beck and call of Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man.

Hardly a fitting role for an actress of her calibre, but this is no surprise: Paltrow hasn’t had a part worthy of her talents since playing Sylvia Plath, the suicidal poet, five years ago in Sylvia.

Films such as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Good Night were beginning to suggest that Shakespeare in Love was a flash in the pan.

Two Lovers, however, is a work that renews the faith. With Paltrow at her most alluring, it barely matters that the premise is pure soap opera; a dry cleaner caught in a love triangle.

It’s a situation that the residents of Albert Square know only too well. But EastEnders does not have James Gray, one of contemporary American cinema’s most underrated directors.

Two Lovers is a considerable departure for him after the gangland themes of his first three films, Little Odessa, The Yards and We Own The Night.

Inspired in part by Dostoevsky’s story White Nights, the script by Gray and Richard Menello reunites the director with Joaquin Phoenix, his star from The Yards and We Own the Night. Neither seem particularly suited to the territory of romantic melodrama, but they attack it with gusto from the outset.

Phoenix plays Leonard, a diffident young man who falls for Michelle (Paltrow), his stunning new neighbour who, it transpires, is embroiled in a relationship with a married man (Elias Koteas).

But then, not one but two women suddenly fall into Leonard’s lap. Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), a family friend, is also sweet on him from the get-go - but simply being available is not enough.

With no prizes for guessing which lady he pursues, Phoenix conveys convincingly the sort of chap you just want to slap round the face and point towards Ms Right. But, as Gray suggests, the human heart is a contrary beast - and the success of Two Lovers is that it forces us to admit that we’ve all faced similar dilemmas.

Fittingly, from the opening shot, as the camera trains on a bird flying across the mist-enshrouded skyline, Two Lovers is a beautifully crafted film. In some ways, it may even be too old-fashioned or traditional to cause much hoopla. But in the best sense of the word, it is an adult film, the pleasure of which lies in the way it unashamedly wears its heart on its sleeve.

As for Gray, he may be a director who has yet to make a masterpiece but, to judge by this, it can only be a matter of time.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010