The Republic Of Love (2004)

If the characters had been able to get over themselves, the viewer would have been able to breathe easier. The long looks – forget your lines? The oh-so-serious weighing of feelings, especially, in Fay – grow up, kid. I think it's called analysis paralysis. Her brother had her number. Where does all that probative introspection get her? It's good she rallied around her mother when needed, but was it really necessary to spin into withdrawal? Lash out at Tom when he calls? She's a baby. Someone really should have taken Tom's temperature. I think he was sick or was he just sleep walking? Just kind of drifts into things, including marriage. Use the brain. Get a pulse. Now, put the two together. The kinky Indian music was too strange. Maybe the mermaid idea was considered an artsy touch as well. These are supposed to be fairly adult people who hold down real jobs. Their courtship and relating revolve mainly around the initial newness of meeting and cohabiting. Pretty flimsy deal they got going here. Not surprising that it doesn't weather the first ill wind that blows its way. I guess their parents failed them along the way, but what else is new? You are supposed to acquire some life skills beyond that on your own. You're grown up now (40ish, in his case), so why can't you handle anything? Where's the strength for someone else? Consumed on little me, actually. Good luck on the marriage ("I'm so happy!"). Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than that. Oh, please finally get with it, or just go back home and settle into sucking your thumb in earnest.This is a downer about two losers likely to remain that way.

I agree with the previous commentary that there is an excellent director at work in this film, and that the script can be rather thin at times. However, the chemistry between Bruce Greenwood and Emilia Fox save the movie. The ups and downs they face have some similar correlation to the problems we all face in real life, although there are times when one wonders about their strange situations. Still, both actors have created full, living and breathing characters for us to enjoy and, while at times we wonder why the story heads in a certain direction, we are still captivated by the relationship these two actors have created for the screen. In my youth I was never a fan of Canadian productions. Films like this keep changing my mind and deserve all the support we can give it.Get your lover, a bottle of your favourite wine and enjoy; it's worth it.

The problem with 'Republic of Love' is that it is a film made because it has a good filmmaker, not a good script. There was totally inadequate attention to detail in the drawing of the lead characters, and the result is a sprawl that is tied together by a good visual sense, not a good narrative one. If you are making a political allegory, that can be fine, but if it is a love story, you are sunk. I kept thinking about all of those publicly funded organisations which had bank-rolled the film and, in spite of my leanings towards the public support of fine filmmakers, found myself thinking that people who were risking their own money would not have jumped with such a weak script (and barely adequate cast...)

The Republic of Love sadly confirms my suspicion that Deepa Mehta is a director of limited talent and vision. The film is dramatically and emotionally inert - a far, far cry from Carol Shields source novel. Certain sequences - for example, the lamentable nonsense about mermaids in the museum - are little short of embarrassing, with Mehta seemingly unable to construct convincing relationships. Certain sets look as if they were built on very limited budgets. The whole thing isn't helped by weak decisions in the casting department. Emilia Fox is cold and fails to convince us of any of her character's passion. Bruce Greenwood struggles to convince us of his heterosexuality. And Edward Fox is - well - just plain terrible. His accent sounds as it was trained at the Dick Van Dyke School of Elocution. A major misfire. Avoid.