Abigail Cowen is Angel, the most sought-after whore at Duchess’s Palace, a brothel in the gold boom town of Pair-A-Dice, Calif.

Men crowd the streets for a glimpse of her when she goes for walks twice a week. They’re willing to buy lottery tickets for a chance to wind up in her bed.

Michael is one of those men. A hard-working farmer, he owns land about 20 miles from Pair-A-Dice.

And he’s asked the Lord to show him the way to a women with whom he can share a happy future.

He winds up smitten the first time he spots Angel. And he pays double for his lottery tickets to improve his chances of winding up in her room.

He isn’t looking for a good time. He doesn’t care about her past. He’s looking for a wife.

Which confounds Angel, who repeatedly turns down his proposals of marriage.

Besides, Angel figures she has a bright future. Duchess has been putting aside her gold. She can collect her earnings and head off on her own whenever she wants.

Or so she thinks. Demanding that money earns her a hard lesson in brothel economics. And a beating from Magowan, enforcer for the Duchess.

Michael comes to the rescue. Angel, lying badly injured in her bed, even agrees to marry him. Second thoughts creep in when she awakes at his farmhouse.

She’s haunted by an even darker past he knows nothing about. And even as she grows fonder of him, she doesn’t consider herself a fit wife for a decent man.

And she certainly doesn’t view herself as the woman who can make him the happiest.

Abigail Cowen as Angel, tormented by her past in Redeeming Love (2022)

Tom Lewis as Michael, spotting Angel walking down the streets of Pair-A-Dice for the first time in Redeeming Love (2022)

Review:

A well-done love story with a frontier setting that’s well worth a watch for Western fans who can enjoy a film minus shootouts and barroom brawls.

Abigail Cowen turns in an excellent performance as a young woman so haunted by the demons of her past that she finds that past difficult to escape.

And if like your villains nasty … well, this film has its share.

That said, some of Angel’s decisions will test your patience with our heroine nearly as much as they torment her husband, who comes off as way too saintly.

And my impression of a film that already strains the bounds of plausibility would have been much better without that final fishing scene.

Eric Dane as Duke, the vicious pimp who haunts Angel’s dreams in Redeeming Love (2022)

Famke Janssen as Duchess, forcefully explaining brothel economics to Angel in Redeeming Love (2022)

Directed by:
D.J. Caruso

Cast:
Abigail Cowen … Angel
Tom Lewis … Michael
Eric Dane … Duke
Famke Janssen … Duchess
Logan Marshall-Green … Paul
Nina Dobrev … Mae
Livi Birch … Sarah Stafford
Jamie-Lee O’Donnell … Lucky
Willie Watson … John Altman
Josh Taylor … Alex Stafford
Ke-Xi Wu … Mai Ling
Bandon Auret … Magowan
Clyde Berning … Rab
Tanya van Graan … Sally
Milton Schorr … Colin
Martial Batchamen Tchana … Guardian
Arsema Thomas … Rebecca
Lauren McGregor … Elizabeth Altman
Daniah De Villiers … Miriam Altman
Tayah Ronen Abels … Ruthie Altman

Runtime: 134 min.

Logan Marshall-Green as Paul, Michael’s brothers, suggesting Angel reward him for a ride to town in Redeeming Love (2022)

Daniah De Villiers as Miriam Altman, the woman Angel thinks Michael should marry in Redeeming Love (2022)

Memorable lines:

Mai Ling, one of the girls working at Duchess’s Palace: “My father sold me for three ounces of gold. And he told me I was going to stay in a palace. I thought he meant a royal palace, like a princess.”

Lucky: “You can’t get by without hope.”
Angel: “I’ll get by.”
Mai Ling: “How?”
Angel: “Never look back, never look forward.”

Cleo to young Sarah: “I’m gonna tell you God’s truth. All men wanna do is use you. When you give them your heart, they tear it to shreds. None of them care. Nobody cares about anybody in this world.”

Livi Birch as Sarah Stafford, imaging a brighter future sitting on a wharf in Boston in Redeeming Love (2022)

Nina Dobrev as Mae, Sarah’s mother, talking to her daughter in Redeeming Love (2022)

Michael, at the end of his first visit to the brothel: “I’m comin’ back. All I ask for is one honest half hour.”
Angel: “Five minutes with me, and you’d run like the devil.”

Michael, after making little progress with Angel: “Next time I pray to God for a woman to share my life, I’m gonna be a lot more specific.”

Angel: “If you knew half of what I did, you’d sent me right back.”
Michael: “You did not choose the life you had. But you can choose the life you want.”