Truly Madly Deeply

I was given this film as a present on my 17th Birthday - a bit cynical to watch such a soppy love story, i decided to go it a go one evening..and didn't take my eyes off the screen until the end! This movie is fantastic! As a product of the late 80's myself - it is a film that makes me wish i still lived in that era!

Some of the best quotations! - that make you realise how important insignificant things are in a relationship (Watching the clouds go by on a lazy autumn morning, sitting up all night chatting etc) This film fills you with nostalgia; my fav part has to be the end..having gone through a rough break-up recently, i can empathise with the feeling of 'letting them go' and moving on.. "My feet shall want to walk to where you are sleeping - but i shall go on living" Watch this film - it'll make you think...

A man who comes back as a ghost to assist his grieving wife... it could have been really cheesy, but Rickman and Stevenson pull it off! I loved this movie and I'm not normally into romantic comedies. The comedy is subtle and doesn't dominate the movie. If you're looking for a happy-go-lucky, laugh a minute movie, look elsewhere. Stevenson's tears and grief are very realistic and you truly feel her desperation. Yet, though there is sadness and even the ending is bitter-sweet, you don't leave feeling depressed and there ARE laughs along the way. Rickman and Stevenson's singing scene is tremendous and a must see for all Rickman fans! It is strange to call a movie about a ghost "realistic", but it is. The relationship between the two leads is very realistic and the chemistry is incredible. All in all a charming little flick to watch when you feel like cuddling up and watching a good love story.

Having spent some time in the States, I got to watch the brilliant review programme starring Siskel and Ebert (rest in peace, Gene). I've now got a rather dated copy of Ebert's book, and his review of this film matches my opinions perfectly.

Comparisons of this film and Ghost are fatuous, since the similarities are only superficial. Yes, the main protagonists are a couple where the man dies and returns as a ghost, but that's about it. Truly, madly, deeply is wonderfully involving - it has that indefinable something that makes you care about the characters, and pray that the film makers won't cop out and go for a stupid ending.

Fear not, they remain true to the rest of the film. If you only know Alan Rickman from his 'baddie' roles in films like Die Hard and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, this will come as a complete surprise. He plays the recently departed Jamie, who must hang around as a ghost until Nina (Juliet Stevenson) finds happiness. The film is slow-paced, but that doesn't matter - it's a wonderful character study.

Of course, it's helped by having Nina played by the utterly wonderful Juliet Stevenson. In the early scenes, when she's grieving for Jamie, her pain is almost palpable. Forget Demi Moore-style teary-eyed, looking ever more beautiful grieving - this is the real thing, floods of tears, almost incoherent, looking like crap, snot-nosed AGONY. The transformation when she realises that Jamie is still around is a joy to watch - as is most of the film, actually.

'Ghost' for adults? In a way, but I think it's comparing apples and oranges. It's a masterful character study, with a great script and a cast on top of their form. Well worth watching.

This is a beautiful little movie. Juliet Stevenson (as Nina) plays one of the most authentic female leads I've ever seen: She bawls full-out, complete with fluids; she looks like a man in bad lighting; she's passive aggressive and irritable and loveable and likeable and real. Likewise, Alan Rickman's character, Jamie, is peevish, like all of us, self-centered, like all of us, but beautiful and unique and again, real. Unlike the schmaltz we're fed here in the states, where dialogue consists of rehearsed speeches (think Jerry Maguire) and love seems skin-deep, this is a couple that seems not only to love each other but to genuinely like each other; a couple that has their own language, as long-term couples do (and it's not translated, which is so refreshing), a couple that can be silly with each other and irritated with each other within minutes; that can have spats that are not high drama or the beginning of the end or anything other than the end of a long day in a too-hot apartment. The ending broke my heart yet seemed like the most natural and right course of action. Truly stunning.

This one of the most memorable and touching movies about love and loss that I have ever seen. It does fall a little into the trite towards the end with some of the side plots, but the essential message is there from beginning to end. There are people who you love who leave deep and indelible pieces in you, but the essence of living is painful and individual.

The characters are well drawn and the performances by Rickman and Stevenson are nothing short of inspired. Rickman in particular has an ambivalent character- he has the attraction of a unique and fleeting genius, juxtaposed with the temperamental flightiness of a hot house flower. Stevenson's dealings with this paradox of a person and her relationship, forms the driving force behind her quest for meaning.

There are moments of humor and extreme poignancy in this movie. The use of Bach and the poetry of Pablo Neruda is both organic and brilliant.

The trite parts are largely collateral. The movie rather than being "PC" is idiosyncratic with unusual characters.