Love Is All You Need (2012)

Ida is a Danish woman near the end of her successful chemotherapy treatment. She gets home early and finds her husband Leif having sex with young Thilde. She is in shock when she crashes into Philip Saunders (Pierce Brosnan) at the airport parking. She is on her way to her daughter Astrid's wedding in Italy. Phillip turns out to be the father of Astrid's fiancée Patrick. He is bitter and closed off after the death of his wife. Ida tries to keep the situation secret from Astrid and then Leif shows up at the wedding with Thilde. The wedding includes gay worker Alessandro who has a crush on Patrick, Astrid's injured brother Kenneth returning from the military, Philip's rude flirtatious sister-in-law Benedikte and her bitter suffering daughter.Ida is a compelling character and Trine Dyrholm does a nice job. I like her story. Pierce Brosnan is a bit of a Hollywood distraction but I understand his use. Eventually, I got used to him and their relationship is good romance. There are a lot of crazy relatives going off in that wedding and a couple of them could have less screen time. There's no reason to spend so much time with Benedikte and her daughter. They are one-dimensional comedic side characters. Ida's struggles make this a good romance despite a few too many dramatic developments at the wedding.

Yes, a lot of the more negative reviews are based on the subtitles. And, yes, the whole film is basically subtitled. Although, maybe that wouldn't be so bad if it really was the whole film. In reality, only HALF is subtitled (as Pierce Brosnan only says one line not in his native tongue).It's basically a romantic comedy, so I won't spoil the plot, but if you have ever seen a romantic comedy, you won't be too surprised by the outcome. And, it's all good - in as much as the acting is all excellent and everyone plays their parts well. However, my major gripe was that (besides seeing one of the 'plot twists' coming a mile off) it was a little too long. Maintaining the pace for about two hours is a lot harder than keeping the happy-go-lucky storyline jogging along for just the ninety minutes.If you're into your rom-coms then this should satisfy you well enough. It's just a pity it couldn't be a little more trimmed down (and maybe all in English - if I'm being cynical!).

This sweet comedy shows when everything has happened that should not happen happens. Surgery and chemotherapy for breast cancer, her husband with a much younger work colleague on their sofa. Ida travels without her husband to Italy to their daughter's wedding in Sorrento. At the airport in the parking area she backs in to Philips car. Philip, movie-coincidence, is the father to the boy her daughter will marry. Of course and what else. After the arrival, with Philip on their way to their children she has to listen how he treats his staff ("I pay them") bluntly telling him in the taxi that she dislikes him. What else: the movie follows the well known scheme. In a touching monologue in front of everybody her daughter calls off the wedding. The call-off is the cover-up for the real romance and the real 'happy end': the between-the-lines-romance of her mother and the widowed father. Back home where life goes on ... until Philip comes to the hair salon for a haircut the expert she is, talked of he needs. But it is her he needs. But: too early. First other things has to happen. She has to take care of. One: her unfaithful husband. This husband that appeared at their daughters wedding with his latest love affair. Not only 'Love is all we need', the English title: but more.The movies centerpiece is the scene at the beach. She swims. Without clothes and wig, lying there in the sand: naked and bald. Discovering what she does Charles rushes down to warn her of the dangerous undercurrents in the water. Coming out of the water, she: "Don't look" and he: "I am not looking. Take your clothes on". He does not look. But what he does is he sees! Beyond her nakedness, beyond her baldness. The 'skaldede frisør', she is. Seeing her what and as she is. Beyond. The reason for their happy ending. Not in the hair salon. He tried but came too early for a haircut he does not need. First she must take care with the business with her husband. First then, later and now she comes and asks him to open the answer from the hospital and read it to her. By looking at her and his eyes we 'see' what the letter says without hearing him reading the letter: their second Chance.new years eve 2013, for Clemencia

When I saw that Suzanne Bier was the director, I decided to rent this movie on the spot since she directed my all-time favorite film "After the Wedding."However, 'Love is All You Need' is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. About the only thing is has going for it is the solid acting of the cast, which gives Ms. Bier their best efforts despite the vacuous story line. One implausible incident piles upon another, until the viewer has completely lost interest. The characters of Leif and Bennedikte (?) are so unrealistic that they are downright ridiculous. Leif is a dufus who is so heartless and stupid that he brings his young arm-candy lover to his daughter's wedding mere days after he's caught sleeping with her by his cancer-stricken wife, Ida. And Bennedikte, the groom's aunt, is a mean-spirited, cruel mother who publicly berates her daughter for obesity and goes so far as to try to teach the daughter to induce herself to vomit so she can lose weight.While the movie is lacking in plot and script, it is not lacking in immorality--an attempt perhaps to garner viewers who might be titillated by nudity and gay lovers making out.The only reasons I give this movie a '3' instead of a '1' are because the message is a positive one, and I thought the ending was nicely done. Also I believe Pierce Brosnan's wife died of cancer not long ago, so this was perhaps a subject that held special meaning for him.