Truly Madly Deeply (1991)

The story revolves around Nina, a young, professional ESL teacher and translator, who is anguished to the core of her being by the sudden loss of husband Jamie - a cellist - beautifully played by Alan Rickman. Nina's grief at her loss is so profound that she frequently breaks down in hysterical crying jags. She seems to sense Jamie's presence – and one day, it's not only a sensation, he's actually, physically present in her flat. She's thrilled – she's comforted – they affectionately nuzzle and play duets. Jamie is loving and tender, although he appears to suffer from the cold.Life with Jamie, living or dead, seems blissful initially. But while Nina is at work, Jamie invites his ghost mates in to watch videos; they are a motley crew who don't allow Nina any privacy, and that is a bit of a turn-off. They impose on her to pick up more videos, and they help Jamie to "helpfully" roll up her old carpet and rearrange her furniture – without asking her, however. One reviewer said that Jamie's actions are intended to alienate Nina, and thus persuade her to move on with her life. I think that may well be true.When Nina meets with her new light-of-life (Mark) at the end of the film and lingeringly kisses him, the camera pulls back to a long shot of Jamie and his ghost mates gazing down on Nina and Mark from the front window of her flat. I felt wistful and rather forlorn as Jamie waves a tender goodbye. But Nina exits with her new beau with nary a glance backward. Had Nina, equally tenderly, looked up at Jamie and blown a kiss or waved sweetly to him, I would have sensed more of a mutual affection combined with a reciprocal acknowledgement that it truly was time for both of them to move on. Instead, while I felt she was making a new life for herself, with few regrets or reflection, she was leaving Jamie in the dear, dark past.

A woman (Juliet Stevenson) dealing with inconsolable grief over the death of her partner (Alan Rickman) gets another chance when he returns to earth as a ghost.The title comes from a word game played by the main characters, in which they challenge each other to by turns repeat and add to a series of adverbs describing the depths of their mutual affection. The working title for the film was 'Cello', a reference not only to the cello within the film, but also to the Italian word 'cielo' for heaven. I like the original title better, but understand why the new one might be seen as more marketable.The film was made-for-TV, and produced in a 28-day shooting schedule for just $650,000. Of course, it rises well above that due to its strong pair of actors. When did Alan Rickman really become known as a great actor? Certainly not in "Die Hard" (though he is great)... could this have been a big turning point for him? Roger Ebert called it "a Ghost for grownups" (a common comparison because of the shared theme of lovers returning as ghosts and the concurrent releases of the movies) and considered the movie to reveal "some truths that are, the more you think about them, really pretty profound." I don't know if I would give the film nearly as much weight as Ebert does, but I do enjoy seeing dead people discuss cinema.

Now, I like a weepy, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I actively seek out those films that are most likely to make me cry. However, more often than not, I end up disappointed because usually this type of film is either wildly melodramatic or painfully sentimental.That's what I was expecting from this, to tell the truth. A woman overcome with grief at the death of her boyfriend? Give me a break!... I was in floods by the end, and promptly watched it again.This film is testament to how well us Brits can do when we put our minds to it. It's charming, funny, warm and absolutely heart-breaking. All the performances are grouped under an umbrella label 'very good', with one notable exception: that of Juliet Stevenson as Nina. She is magnificent, and is, at times unbearable to watch. I'm still absolutely astonished at her performance. This is a woman who has had her heart and soul ripped out I love this film. I'm getting a lump in my throat just thinking about it. It's wonderful! (Blub! *Sniff*)

Made by the Camden Mafia for the Camden Mafia in a spirit of self - love that is almost onanistic,"Truly,Madly,Deeply"has all the appalling "right on" characteristics that New Labour pounced on so eagerly a few years later.A thirtyish woman loses her "partner";not,you will notice, her husband,no such old - fashioned middle class morality attends the middle classes in the Highgate Triangle in the nineteen nineties. She works for an organisation that helps refugees - clearly a Good Thing and far better than being at Deloitte and Touche or Linklaters. Despite being devastated by her lover's death - and my god is she devastated,we hardly hear the last of it for a good part of the movie - she is Woman,brave,noble and strong.Her politics,and those of her late partner,of course are of the comfortably off left persuasion. They belong to that strange world where people who could afford to have fitted carpets throughout don't on the grounds that the original wooden floorboards have "character" despite being freezing cold and a Health and Safety hazard. Unable to come to terms with her loss she imagines her lover returns to help her through post - traumatic shock,a sort of ghostly grief counsellor.In the due fullness of time(about 20 minutes or so before the end of the movie)she meets a "New Man" in every sense of the term. He is not a member of the Stock Exchange,he works with people with special needs,he is non - threateningly masculine,sensitive,gentle and everything a vaguely leftish,vaguely feminist,nicely brought-up person of the opposite gender might wish for.I have never met anyone like him and I doubt if any such person exists outside the director's imagination. Unsurprisingly with the appearance of a new beau her dead one becomes rather supernumerary and disappears with an abruptness that might appear rude to some. Miss J.Stephenson as the recently bereaved female person bestows some slight credibility to a character that is little more than a cipher. Her emotional outbursts are technical tours de force but even a performer of her skills can't make Nina anything other than the paragon of all the womanly virtues she has been conceived as and thus a totally unbelievable human being. Mr A. Rickman unfurls his magnificent voice ,making the very most of his dry quality that adds a sardonic edge to every part he plays.As a ghost he doesn't have to bother about being believable which gives him rather more leeway. "Truly,Madly,Deeply" is a hymn to the new politics of gender relations. If you subscribe to Ancient rather than Modern you may find it a bit too much to take.