Yes

Not since Shakespeare's day have playwrights written entire screenplays in iambic pentameter, but writer/director Sally Potter might single-handedly start the trend again. However, it took me over a half hour to realize that the whole film was one epic poem – before then all I thought was, "This dialogue is horrible! People don't actually speak like this!" But that's the point. Poetry is not meant to imitate average speech. That's why it's poetry.

Joan Allen plays a lonely wife (whose name is never mentioned) trapped in a loveless marriage who has a fiercely passionate affair with a Muslim man from Lebanon. Because she was born in Northern Ireland (but raised, however, in America), she thinks she understands her lover's pain and suffering as an Arab man living in London. These two lovers fight about race, class, religion, politics, stereotypes, and identity, and with the recent bombings on the London Underground, this film is unsettlingly too relevant. Yes is a superb love poem that speaks volumes about what we, as a society, are afraid to mention in our post-9/11 world. But unfortunately, sitting through this film feels more like homework than pleasure.

Sally Potter has in my view made a masterpiece.

To challenge every issue from racism to religion to cultural difference, let alone to the big question, the what's it all about question, and all in one film is astounding but to do this with such daring, the rhyming verse, structure, cinematography, musical score is nothing short of genius. Joan Allen is remarkable as She. Her beauty is second only to her delivery of the some of the most intelligent and profound verse that I have ever heard. Shiela Hancock's death speech sits on its own as an inspired piece of writing. There are so many great moments in this film, there is no point in trying to list them, but do look out for the wine bar scene!

Potter has reminded me why film is great.

Thank you Sally Potter.

I had the chance to see Yes when it in premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. I had no idea what to expect and that in turn was a good thing. Expectations more often than not ruin our perceptions of a film and that would be my advice for anyone seeing this film for the first time, do not expect to know what you are getting into. With that said, I believe this was a marvelous film because it was able to balance the seriousness of its subject matter with a nice touch of humor. This definitely was not a film for everybody and I say this because it does require one to think when viewing it and as we all know, a lot of people go to the movies to escape, not to think. Right away, the viewer will realize this is not your normal film simply by the dialogue, it was written in iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets. The rhyming of the dialogue might be a turn off for some, but I found it to be quite pleasing and very humorous almost in a mature Dr. Seuss sort of way. Anyone that is a writer will appreciate the time and care and difficulty that went into writing this script. Regarding the content of this film, I will only say that everything is not always as it appears and we interpret what we see...if you can appreciate this kind of thought, then see this film. If I had to compare it to another film, which I shouldn't do, I'd say American Beauty or Donnie Darko. On a technical note, I had the chance to talk to Mrs. Potter and her producer Mr. Sheppard afterwards and they informed me that it cost less than 4 million to make this film which makes it all the more magnificent.

The most imaginative narrative film in the last two years? Better middle-aged romance than Something's Gotta Give and Must Love Dogs? YES! In Yes, Sally Potter, having established herself as not one of the usual directing boys with her wildly creative Orlando, has her characters speak in iambic pentameter, which, if I remember my English literature classes well enough, was the style used by Shakespeare because it approximates ordinary speech.

Why use iambic pentameter in a contemporary film? Actually, if it weren't for the rhyming, most of us would not identify the meter beyond just beautiful cadence by professional actors. But because this is an intricate tale of a mature woman in a lifeless marriage finding a man who gives her a reason to be happy, the meter adds grace and elegance to what neo-cons could label as "sin." The arguments about the beauty of life and the human body, along with a maid discoursing on dirt, are made to sound like philosophical discourse by Plato at his nearest park.

When Allen's "She" discovers through her aunt that we want our whole lives "things we don't need," the film takes another direction from love to a communistic conclusion about wealth, in Cuba no less. That's what's exciting about Potter's agenda: She seems to have so many thoughts about birth, love, and death that the film bursts with the energy of a first date with an interesting, very verbal, very sensual human being. When "She" has her date in a restaurant, "He," her new love, stimulates her under the table in an almost elegant takeoff on the "Harry Meets Sally" scream.

That "She' was born in Belfast and "He" in Beirut is Potter's way of universalizing the clashes our culture seems to proliferate these days. The director could be faulted for trying too much, for being too heavy handed in her metaphors, but better that overreaching than no reaching at all.

What Potter's aim is with the maid who comments to the audience about the universe of microbes beneath a seemingly clean sheet is a challenge, as are the multiple times service people such as cooks and waiters address us. I suspect Potter is emphasizing the need to pay attention to the little things of life, including marginal workers. Indeed, at one point the need to live each moment fully stands front and center. I can agree with that.

The eternal "Yea" overcomes the "Nea."

First off, you need to set your expectations. This is an extremely arty film. There are no explosions, chase scenes, or guns in this movie.

Instead, we have a film with metaphors, themes and relationships. There are few movies I have seen recently that attack such large and serious topics.

The major themes in this movie are God, love and politics. During the course of the movie, racism and war, terrorism and the Middle East, infidelity, atheism and Marxism are all brought on stage.

As if that weren't enough, the majority of the dialog is in rhymed verse, with perhaps occasional interjections of free verse. In fact, the entire very contemporary script has a vaguely Shakespearean feel to it, though there is no shortage of four letter words.

The entire cast of the movie is wonderful, but the centerpiece of the entire film is Joan Allen, who gives an almost supernaturally wonderful performance. The heart of the movie is a moving love story, but this is a serious romance with strong, deeply emotional scenes designed to reflect adult, rather than teenage, themes.

There are also major metaphors in the movie, such as the role of cleaning, which usually stands for an attempt to wipe out guilt or corruption, and the use of glass, and particularly glasses of water, to show the way different viewpoints distort a particular perception of reality.

If you are prepared to see a very serious, beautiful made, and extremely arty film, then this is an excellent way to spend your time. I simply loved the movie, and would probably enjoy seeing it again sometime soon. But please, don't bother to go if you are looking for something else. This is a very heartfelt and intense movie, which refuses to compromise.