Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are not talking about their current relationship, but they have already said plenty.
With reports have hit a rough patch in their almost two-year marriage, many are trying to read between the 鈥淏ennifer鈥 lines about the couple reportedly putting their or Lopez鈥檚 recent decision to to be with her family.
But it appears that the pair have already given us all we need to know about their romance. Just watch 鈥淭he Greatest Love Story Never Told.鈥
The Prime Video documentary first released in February as a behind-the-scenes look at Lopez鈥檚 short film that accompanied her latest album, 鈥淭his Is Me鈥ow: A Love Story.鈥 It was a lot of at once, some criticized too much, but the documentary, in retrospect, is revelatory.
Before they wed () in 2022, Lopez and Affleck were previously engaged two decades prior, only to call it off three days before their planned September 2003 wedding over pressures of living in the spotlight. 鈥淭he Greatest Love Story Never Told鈥 explores what brought them back together, along with their bond and even their conflicts - in other words an adult relationship.
No one can say Ben Affleck isn鈥檛 romantic.
He took their correspondence, every letter and email they had written over 20 years and put it in a memory book he titled, 鈥淭he Greatest Love Story Never Told.鈥 He presented it to Lopez for their first Christmas together after they reunited.
Lopez used the letters as inspiration for 鈥淭his is Me鈥ow,鈥 sharing it with her creative team.
鈥淪he would pick one and she would let us touch them and read them,鈥 one songwriter recounts in the documentary.
Affleck shares his reaction when he discovered the book had served as source material for his wife鈥檚 work.
鈥淪he was like 鈥業鈥檝e been reading and the people鈥his is the kind of inspiration. I鈥檝e been showing them the book,鈥 Affleck recalls in the film. 鈥淚 was like 鈥榊ou鈥檝e been showing all the musicians all those letters that鈥︹ and they were like 鈥榊eah, we call you Pen Affleck!鈥 And I was like 鈥極h my God.鈥欌
Though out of his comfort zone, the Oscar-winning producer and writer seems to understand.
鈥淚 did really find the beauty and the poetry and the irony in the fact that it鈥檚 the greatest love story never told,鈥 he says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e making a record about it, that seems kind of like telling it.鈥
Their different approaches to creativity and fame are what some observers believe may be the cause of possible conflict in their power-coupledom.
鈥淭hings that are private, I always felt are sacred and special because, in part, they鈥檙e private,鈥 Affleck says at one point in the film. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.鈥
鈥淕etting back together, I said, 鈥楲isten, one of the things I don鈥檛 want is a relationship on social media,鈥欌 Affleck later says in the project. 鈥淭hen I sort of realized it鈥檚 not a fair thing to ask. It鈥檚 sort of like, you鈥檙e gonna marry a boat captain and you go, 鈥榃ell, I don鈥檛 like the water.鈥欌
Lopez expresses her appreciation for Affleck鈥檚 support.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing all of this,鈥 she says in the documentary. 鈥淏ut he loves me, he knows I鈥檓 an artist, and he鈥檚 gonna support me in every way he can because he knows you can鈥檛 stop me from making the music I made鈥 he doesn鈥檛 want to stop me. But that doesn鈥檛 mean he鈥檚 comfortable being the muse.鈥
鈥淭he Greatest Love Story Never Told鈥 begins with Lopez explaining how her reunion with Affleck inspired her to do her first studio album in a decade.
She states that her love for him endured in their years apart, but she put to the side.
鈥淲hen her and Ben first broke up it was catastrophic to her constitution,鈥 said Dave Meyers, who both directed her music videos years ago and the 鈥淭his Is Me鈥ow: A Love Story鈥 short film. 鈥淓verything that she wanted from what she understood love to be, for that to not work, For the pressures to break it apart. That just spun her out.鈥
Lopez recalls their initial split, noting that she felt she had lost her best friend and weeps as she talks about the love Affleck has shown her.
鈥淲hat he saw in me, what he allowed me to believe about myself, only comes from love,鈥 she says as tears roll down her face. 鈥淣obody else could make me see that about myself. It鈥檚 very moving. Because I didn鈥檛 think much of myself, and so the world didn鈥檛 think much of me.鈥
In one scene, Lopez, worn down by the stress of the project she self-financed, expresses her fears she鈥檚 falling short on set, in her marriage and as a mother. In another scene, Affleck is there to encourage her when she worries the visual representation of her new album is going to 鈥渟uck.鈥
鈥淵ou鈥檒l be scared it鈥檒l suck until it doesn鈥檛,鈥 he reassures his wife and makes her laugh. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e gotta discern between things that suck DNA-wise, and things that just don鈥檛 work right.鈥
There鈥檚 also plenty of fun.
Affleck notes that Lopez鈥檚 character in her short film (which she insists is not completely based on her life) is 28 years old, which is not the age she was when they were first together.
鈥淏ut you were,鈥 she says to Affleck. 鈥淵ou were. That鈥檚 why you were not as smart as me.鈥
Affleck is now 51 and Lopez is 54.
When he teases her in the documentary about 鈥渨anting to play younger鈥 even in her semi-autobiographical film, she lovingly calls him an 鈥渋diot.鈥
Lopez sums up how the couple found their way back to each other after so many years.
鈥淲e鈥檙e totally different people now. And we鈥檙e the same,鈥 she says. 鈥淎nd we have the same. One hundred percent.鈥
Enough for more chapters in a story that Affleck and Lopez still appear to be writing.
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