THIS handsomely crafted, lovingly intimate and supremely well-acted biographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Jeff Nichols explores one of 20th century America’s defining court cases and is a quietly powerful cinematic stand against racial bigotry and backwards thinking.

It’s 1958 in Caroline County, Virginia where white construction worker Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) falls in love with a local black woman and family friend Mildred (Ruth Negga), a relationship immediately frowned upon by many of the townsfolk.

Unable to wait long to make their love official, the two decide to drive to Washington DC to get married, a place where attitudes towards interracial relationships are more favourable. They then head back home, where Richard promises to build his new wife a new house with his own hands.

But not long after returning, their home is raided by local police and they are arrested. When Richard points out that they are legally married, he is told that it doesn’t carry any weight in Virginia and they are not allowed to stay within State lines at the same time as husband and wife.

The rest of the drama centres on the mounting court case that would last the best part of a decade, taking it all the way up the ladder to the Supreme Court after they get rejected further down the rungs.

Nichols has yet to put a foot wrong having made the likes of Mud, Take Shelter and most recently Midnight Special. His latest film is almost aggressively delicate in its handling of the subject matter, pushing aside the natural showy outrage and expected courtroom histrionics that you’d expect for something altogether gentler.

Employing his stalwart cinematographer Adam Stone and composer David Wingo to create a work of subtle authenticity and power, Nichols’ drama works so well because he’s as much, if not more, interested in how this ongoing fight affects Richard and Mildred as people and loving life companions as it does them winning the battle in court.

Edgerton and Negga bring a terrific kind of sensitivity and earthy realism to their respective roles, inhabiting and illuminating this stoically graceful couple with mere glances and believable intimacy as others might rely on rousing speeches. Negga in particular simply owns every frame she’s in but without an ounce of ostentation.

As with all of Nichols’ work to date, he populates the narrative with terrific supporting players. These include Marton Csokas as the infuriatingly intolerant town sheriff, Bill Camp as their increasingly exasperated but well-meaning lawyer and Michael Shannon (who has appeared in every one of the director’s films to date) putting in a brief but memorable performance as a LIFE Magazine photographer shooting photos of the couple in their day-to-day that would later become iconic.

Loving is an unshowy film about unshowy people who loved each other and just wanted to live in harmony as man and wife. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to marry and live in the house Richard wants to build from the ground up? “We ain’t hurtin’ nobody,” he rightly says.

Nichols’s mature, restrained and compassionate drama celebrates that kind of understanding and empathy. The world could use a bit of that right about now.