Truly Madly Deeply (1991)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Instant Favorite.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Nina (Juliet Stevenson)'s life is a mess. Her apartment is falling apart and infested with rats. In her interpreter job, her boss can't speak Spanish and therefore needs her help to communicate with his son. She gets hit on by various men in her life but she can't act on them. She is still heart-broken with the lost of her love Jamie (Alan Rickman). She speaks with him and then actually directly interacts with him. It starts out as overwhelming love rekindling turns into the old problems resurfacing once again.British TV writer Anthony Minghella gets a chance to direct this. It's a fully developed relationship movie. It is touching. Juliet Stevenson is beyond brilliant. She's transcendent. Alan Rickman is interesting because he doesn't present a standard leading man. That makes their relationship so compelling. One can really feel the depths. It's not a simple Hollywood construction. It is a touching ever-after story.

Watching TRULY MADLY DEEPLY is something of a refreshing experience after sitting through the umpteenth supernatural thriller about vengeful spirits. This film offers different kinds of ghost altogether, where the afterlife is depicted as a kind of extremely dull limbo where the spirits of the dead can't fully interact with life as they knew it.Of course, it's not really about ghosts at all, more of a meditation on grief and the ways in which people can overcome the death of a loved one. It's well made with a literate script and, if it's occasionally cheesy in its traditional romantic sub-plot, the calibre of the acting more than makes up for it.You'll either love or hate Juliet Stevenson's performance, I think. She's pretty believable for the majority of the running time, but occasionally her acting goes so over the top that I found it embarrassing; thankfully, this doesn't happen too often. Inevitably, Alan Rickman gives the best performance in the movie, truly nuanced and engaging.Watch out for that classic duet, a real highlight of the movie.

So, this movie. It was excellent. I stumbled across it in my local video rental store and, after being denied the pleasure of buying the movie by the owner, I simply settled for renting it. I've always been a bit of a Rickman fan and, though it was not my intention to rent this movie (I was actually looking for "An Awfully Big Adventure"), I leaped at the chance to see it. I am now glad that I did.The first time I watched the movie, I cried during a good twenty minutes of it. As soon as the movie was over, I watched it again. And again. In fact, as I began watching it for the third time, I began scouring the internet for ways to download clips and audio files.I must say that this movie is definitely not a chick flick, as some have accused it of being. It is a movie for those who (like myself) have experienced someone very close to you dying and know what sort of pain that leaves. The sort of pain that leaves you wishing they would return to life, and then realizing that both of you would be happier if the deceased were in fact deceased.This movie contains wonderful comedy, beautiful romance, a fabulous duet, political statements, and flawless acting/casting. This is a movie to either watch with your significant other, or to watch on your own (or with a pet) when you simply need a nice, long reality check.**SEMI-SPOILERS FOLLOW**On a more personal note, my favorite part of this movie was when Jamie first reappears to Nina, and as she realizes that he is, indeed, in the room, she simply falls apart into his arms crying. I must admit that if someone close to me were to come back to life, that I would react in the same fashion.My favorite quote: "It's like standing behind a glass wall and watching everyone else get on with missing you."

A well-written, tender loving story of a lonely woman who misses her long-time lover who has died, and mourns him caring more for his memory then her own life. This film is sweetly told by actors who really care for the tale and show it in every emotion they evoke and portray. Do the dead re-visit the living, does life go on without horrific feelings of guilt and remorse? These questions are woven into a complex piece and answered so skillfully and compassionately, that one doesn't notice the time goes by so swiftly, the audience wishes it could go on forever. Alan Rickman gives a stellar performance along with his "dance partner," Juliette Stevenson. It may be viewed as simply a "chick-flick" but has such depth that even the male persuasion will be moved. Don't miss this cinema.