Love Is All You Need

Diane and I saw this, to me interesting but to Diane delightful, movie this afternoon at Paradiso in Perth. I found the initial first-half of the movie fairly unnerving because I am a total coward at movies in all their aspects including domestic difficulties and this movie had them in spades; having said that I found the entire movie engaging and very watchable with no "dead" spots anywhere in the film.

The movie is composed of viewer looks into the lives of all the principal characters but centering around the mother of the groom and the father of the bride. The larger family all have their pieces to add to this bubbling pot of individuals who all seem to have significant parts to play as the principals go through the steps of their routine. Not to be overly trite about the metaphor but speaking of dance it plays a larger than expected role in the movie or at least to me.

This is a lovely movie and one that should be watched by any person whose mind is stable enough to appreciate good story telling without the need for guns, killing and the mindlessness of the normal Hollywood dross.

Surprisingly this movie expelled all my expectations. It was a simply good movie with nice characters and places, not an awesome-awesome one though. So diverse romance-drama told in the perspective of the elder people's beginning of a new relationship. It is a predictable plot so there's no surprise twists at all. From the director of 'In a Better World' this movie narrates the story of a widower and a hairdresser whose husband is cheating on her.

A widower businessman in his 50s probably is preparing to attend his son's wedding in abroad. In other side of the story a woman who successfully completed her cancer treatment as well getting ready to attend her daughter's wedding in Italy. In an accident these two meet at the airport. With a little discomfortable at beginning they start to like each other. For the sake of children these two must sacrifice what they have found within them. So the lives goes on as it forced them to move along with it.

Extraordinary performances by Pierce Brosnan and a woman on his counterpart character called Ida was awesome. I can't finish this review without mentioning the bride, she looked so pretty. Sadly it was not her story. The seaside locations in Italy were beautiful, played a crucial role in the movie's pleasant presentation. They shot it at the right season I guess because it was alluring. Everyone might not enjoy the movie because it deals about older people's romance and I am not old but I liked it.

I saw this film as part of the Ghent filmfestival 2012. Usually I've little interest in feelgood movies, and particularly not when wedding festivities are an integral element. But the synopsis in the filmfestival brochure had that little something that made me book tickets, and I'm not disappointed. That does not mean that important questions of life and death are discussed, but rather that it proves solid entertainment for the whole duration (nearly 2 hours), no more no less. You will forget about the movie later on, to remember only that it was pleasant and amusing throughout.

The story line develops steadily, and all important characters get time to be introduced to the audience. In other words, we really get the chance to know them. These introductions are spread evenly, and luckily not condensed in the first quarter.

Center of the proceedings is hairdresser Ida, who just returned from hospital after a cancer treatment. She is wearing a wig as a result, hence the original title "The bald hairdresser" (possibly for commercial reasons translated to "Love is all you need"). Still not certain about the ultimate success of the cancer treatment, she returns home. There she finds her husband Leif with the much younger Tilde (from "accounting") doing it on the couch. Ida does not take it lightly, and a divorce seems imminent.

As her daughter Astrid will be getting married in Italy within a few days, she travels alone to the airport. In her nerves to park the car in order to catch her flight, she collides with the car of a business man in vegetables (Philip). He happens to be the father of the groom (Patrick), and on his way to the same marriage. This coincidence seems a bit of a stretch as well as statistically impossible. Luckily it is the only thing in this film that I consider far fetched. Combining that encounter with the fact (we learn that later on) that he is a widower, allows us to predict the main story line from that moment on. However... It does not happen that way, at least not exactly.

Apart from the developments around the relationship between Ida and Philip, there are ample opportunities for sub-plots and new characters to be introduced along the line. All this gets gradually interwoven in the story, without giving us a feeling that the film makers are overdoing it. The time that the film takes, much more than the average 90 minutes, offers sufficient room for parallel story lines to develop and come to a (sometimes happy, sometimes not so happy) conclusion. The script mixes all these many ingredients in an ingenious way, and stays believable from start to finish (aforementioned car accident being the only exception).

I don't think it makes any sense to delve deeper in the scenario. Which is next to impossible anyway without revealing how the story develops, and without introducing spoilers in the text. That would take away much of the surprise, a definite no-no, since surprises are the main ingredients out of which this film is made.

Apart from superb casting and acting that we are allowed to witness, the story line (better: story lines) suffice to keep the viewer interested all the time in what will happen next. I could not spot any dull moments, in other words fully qualified entertainment for the whole family. Expecting no more than what the label says, I scored it deservedly with a maximum (5) for the audience award when leaving the theater.

I think the Italian review above is very harsh - what do we go to see films for? To be entertained and moved emotionally in at least one way. I laughed, cried, smiled and thought this was a great way to spend two hours. It is not pretentious or highbrow but that is good in my opinion - the locations are good on the eye, music enjoyable and a few interesting characters. Whilst it may not be Brosnan's most challenging role he is a likable guy and character and does portray a man with baggage, emotional issues and regret over his relationship with his son. many people will recognise some of the issues in this film, so lighten up in Italy and just regard some films as light entertainment - nothing wrong with that.

Love Is All You Need is a wedding, romance, and family movie from Denmark mostly taking place in Italy. It is about solving the riddles within yourself, not necessarily succeeding, but at least acknowledging them.

The good. Superb Italian panoramas. Fascinating and touching story with a lot of depth. Very realistic. Solidly built scenario with interesting twists and turns. Excellent background. Perfect ending. Nicely romantic with a few laughs. Well grounded. No clichés.

The actors. Trine Dyrholm is absolutely fantastic, beautiful and compelling. Pierce Brosnan, while not playing too far from his usual roles, is just great. And I have to mention the work of Paprika Steen as the annoying, mean, and self-centered aunt/sister-in-law.

The bad. I can't thing of anything. That's how much I appreciated the flick.

The ugly. Nothing.

The result. Something much different from Hollywood's romantic films. A true breath of fresh air. A must for everyone, to the exception of those not interested in romance or family conflicts.