As a drama about a love affair between an Irish American woman (Joan Allen) and a Middle Eastern man (Simon Abkarian) who meet in London, Yes uses its romantic story as a springboard to examine the culture clash between the US and the Middle East " specifically, between Christians and Muslims " in contemporary society.

As such, it's a topical film that voices many concerns from both sides but it's done in a unique way: this is a love story told in verse, with the characters speaking in rhyme throughout. What sounds like a pretentious idea that could have hampered the effectiveness of the film is instead a unique way of expressing familiar arguments and tensions, and an effective way to communicate thoughts and emotions that might otherwise have been expressed in heavy-handed dialogue.

The relationship serves to highlight a range of issues that have come to dominate the world after the events of 9/11, where differences in race, religion and ideology are at the forefront of people's minds. But Potter doesn't favour one person over the other in the relationship, showing how both the woman and the man are affected by the political events around them. The film also shows that the man and the woman don't conform to the stereotypical depictions of Arabs and Americans that are often portrayed in the media.

Both Allen and Abkarian are good as the two lovers, but they don't quite manage to imbue their characters with personality quirks that bring them alive as a credible romantic couple. Occasionally, they manage to come across like two people in love (for instance, in the scene in bed after their first night together, where their tender exchange feels natural) but for a lot of the time, they sound less like a couple in love talking about their differences and more like two symbols who are verbalising political ideas.

Among the supporting cast, Sam Neill is effective as Allen's estranged husband, who is mostly a background presence in the film, but still prominent. There are also numerous cleaners glimpsed in the film, who wander around the film's landscape like angels who are invisible to the human eye. The most prominent, and the only vocal one, is Shirley Henderson, a cleaner who works in Allen's and Neill's home, who turns to camera with a knowing glance, letting the audience in on the characters' secrets. Henderson almost steals the film from the principal characters, and it's tempting to imagine the film following her character and examining the same issues from a more down-to-earth perspective. Complimenting the stylised rhyming dialogue that's both structured yet fluid, Potter's direction alternates static, formal compositions with dutched camera angles, blurred step frames and CCTV god's eye views of scenes.

The style of the film may not be to everyone's taste, but Yes is a nevertheless a timely film that raises many interesting questions about how people from different cultures can have a relationship in a world that seems to be driving their cultures further apart.

The film offers hope that differences can be worked through and that people can be brought together, and in the midst of the current escalating tensions between cultures, this is, like the film's title, an affirmative message, and one that should be applauded.