Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Truly, Madly, Deeply
Directed by Anthony Minghella
MGM/UA 05/91 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG

Nina (Juliet Stevenson) is an accomplished language interpreter who lives alone in a dilapidated flat in London. She is distraught over the sudden death of her lover, Jamie (Alan Rickman), a cellist. She just can't get him out of her thoughts.

Although Nina is desperately trying to mourn in private, other people who enjoy her company keep intruding. They include a Polish handyman (Cristopher Rozycki), her boss (Bill Paterson), a Chilean exile (Stella Maris), and an elderly widowed exterminator (David Ryall) who tells Nina that he still talks to his dead wife.

Then one night, Jamie appears in her flat as a ghost with a body. She exuberantly accepts this miracle. But gradually, he wears out his welcome by rearranging her living room furniture, invading her privacy, and inviting his friends from the other world over for evenings watching videos of old movies.

By the time Nina meets Mark (Michael Maloney), a social worker, she's ready for a new lease on life. His mission accomplished, Jamie and his otherworldly pals watch from the window as Nina returns to the land of the living with love in her heart.

In Necessary Losses, Judith Viorst writes: "When we think of loss, we think of the loss, through death, of people we love. But loss is a far more encompassing theme in our life. For we lose not only through death, but also by leaving and being left, by changing and letting go and moving on."

This amplified understanding of loss is at the heart of Truly, Madly, Deeply. Juliet Stevenson gives a heartfelt performance as an English woman who travels to the far country of grief and almost doesn't make it back. Watching the process whereby she is restored to the wonder, joy, and confusion of life is a delight to behold.

English writer and director Anthony Minghella has populated Truly, Madly, Deeply with an extremely likable cast of characters, not the least of whom is Alan Rickman as an otherworldly lover with a special mission.

Films Now Showing
Recent VHS/DVD Releases

Reviews and database copyright © 1970 – 2009
by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat