In a year where we’re seeing younger men woo older women in steamy romances like “The Idea of You” and “Babygirl,” it feels genuinely refreshing that writer-director Susannah Grant’s “Lonely Planet” doesn’t seek to capture the problems that arise when an older woman falls for a man almost half her age. Rather, she’s more interested in exploring life’s delicate entanglements that caused these individuals to intersect in the first place. While many of the picture’s finer details are in desperate need of ironing out, the wrinkles within these two characters’ lives are compelling enough.

World-renowned novelist Katherine (Laura Dern) is stuck in a rut. Recently separated from her cancer-surviving sculptor ex and kicked out of their home, she’s suffering from a serious case of writer’s block while attempting to pen her next bestseller. She’s travelled thousands of miles to Marrakesh to...