ROMANCE never goes out of fashion, especially in Hollywood, where the theme of love reaching beyond the grave and into eternity is as potent as it ever was. Ghost, which had Hong Kong weeping into its collective handkerchief in 1990 (was it really four years ago?) proved the point. Truly, Madly, Deeply (Pearl, 9.30pm) came out a year later and proved the point again, although it never made the territory's cinemas, the distributors reasoning that we were still all limp from Ghost-fatigue, like the respectable Patrick and Demi made in the pottery scene, later immortalised in Naked Gun 21/2.
Ghost worked so well because it was a sweet, tingly film, a fantasy-romance focusing on loved ones who die suddenly only to linger in the ether, that great MTR station between Heaven and Hell, protecting those they have left behind.
Truly, Madly, Deeply is successful for the same reasons. The first feature film from writer-director Anthony Minghella, who worked with Muppet man Jim Henson, it has the same mixture of humour and spine-tinglingness, but without a naked Demi Moore, a bare-chested Patrick Swayze, or an unnecessary phallic pottery scene.
Nina (Juliet Stevenson) is having a hard time getting over the death of her lover Jamie (Alan Rickman). Sandy (Bill Paterson), who runs the translation agency where she works, tries to shake her out of her doldrums, as does Titus the Polish handyman (a neat comic performance by Christopher Rozycki).
Lost in her memories, Nina begins to lose touch with reality and wills her lover back from the dead in the form of a ghost. It is this that takes her beyond catharsis and towards the cliche that part of loving is letting go and learning to live again. Along the way Stevenson and Rickman perform impeccably. Visually it is a rather uninspired film but Stevenson brings tremendous depth to a role that was created especially for her and Rickman shows he is capable of something very different from Die Hard and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Watch out along the way for a great performance by Stevenson and Rickman of The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More and listen out for Barrington Pheloung's poignant musical score and a few Bach cello sonatas.
