Romantic Comedy Classics #5:

Anthony Minghella Lives

Truly, Madly, Deeply always felt like a romantic comedy to me.  I didn't realize, I suppose, the degree of pain that was also present in the film -- until we started screening it. And then I'd look around me and all these people were overwhelmed, and reduced emotionally by it in a way that I'd never been when we were making it...

--Anthony Minghella

Minghella goes on (in the special feature interview on Truly's DVD that will be required viewing for anyone who loves the late writer-director's work) to talk about the room-splitter nature of this film, which some years ago evidently made the top three of a British survey list of people's favorite films -- and the top three Least Favorite, simultaneously.

The three-minute sequence that he cites as perhaps responsible for this split, as well as being his favorite in the movie, is heroine Juliet Stevenson's breakdown in her psychiatrist's office.  Her performance ("skinless," Minghella calls it) has the kind of harrowing, searing intensity one doesn't tend to associate with romantic comedy, as weeping uncontrollably, she rages at her dead lover: "I'm so angry with him!  I can't forgive him for not being here!"

It's a scene made all the more poignant in re-viewing now that Minghella himself is gone.  Selfishly, as is our wont, we're pissed off at Minghella for dying young, because we're deprived of seeing all the movies he might've made.  Fortunately we do have the exquisite Truly, Madly, Deeply, a blackly comedic exploration of death, grieving, and moving on.  It's one of my favorite romantic comedies for precisely how unlike (and yet quintessentially like) a romantic comedy it is.

Truly had the curious misfortune to be released in the same year as Ghost, the inferior, horribly mawkish blockbuster that superficially explored the same story concept that Truly mines so movingly: the return of a loved one from the dead.  The two make an interesting comparison in terms of their point: while Ghost wholly romanticizes its dead Mr. Right (played by beefy Patrick Swayze) and wallows in the pathos of his being here-again-yet-not, Truly raises the uncomfortable, entirely realistic question, "If your dead lover came back to live with you, would that necessarily be such a lovely thing?"

And its leading man, played by Alan Rickman in perhaps one of his last leading performances as a good guy (as opposed to his last decade's epitomizing of effete evil), has come back not to save his girlfriend from murderous crooks, but to save her from herself.  Therein lies the thematic intrigue of the movie, which -- not to go all SPOILER on the thing, for the sake of those who've yet to see it -- gives Truly the depth and heft that I've come to treasure in a raise-the-bar rom-com.

From a romantic comedy screenwriter's POV, Minghella's writing/directing debut has a number of notable moments.  It contains two superlative cute meets: one that is anything but cute (the hold-your-breath moving scene of Rickman's first reappearance) and a later, unexpected one that is literally magical.  It manages to present us with two absolutely credible leads who we can believe belonged together -- and yet we can totally understand their coming apart.

The chemistry that's so often feigned or faked in a run-of-the-mill rom-com is palpable here -- not just from the performances, but from the writing.  We see it via the couple's affectionate competition in a favorite word game, which yields the film's title ("I love you truly, madly, deeply," says he, "I love you truly, madly, deeply, passionately," says she, and on they go, trying to top each other until he nearly wins the game with "juicily" but ultimately loses it by forgetting to recite "deeply").  And the film contains that old routine, the pop song performed karaoke-style (here it's the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"), but with the kind of crazed, giggly conviction that for once feels entirely sincere, perhaps because it's more well-motivated dramatically than most.

I've often noted that some of the most successful romantic comedies are those that wed their romantic plot to a high concept, and Truly eminently proves the rule.  The ghost motif gets a workout that's so satisfying (again, I don't want to give away the best stuff, since one of the points of this post is: if you've never seen it, go watch this, will you?) -- it's a gag that keeps on giving, grounded in a conceit that has a wonderfully wry subtext (video fanaticism, the movie suggests, really is for dead people).  The ghost story at the film's core is what gives it a genre-transcendent universality you don't often find on rom-com turf.

Meanwhile, it was in watching Truly for the third time that I finally comprehended a central theme in Minghella's work: he makes films about community.  As demonstrated in English Patient, Cold Mountain and Breaking and Entering -- his last, flawed but admirable film which recalls Truly in its milieu and concerns -- Minghella loves to study how disparate people form unlikely alliances and groups, whether in the African desert or a renovated London flat.  Despite its economy-sized production, Truly presents a small world teeming with outspoken individuals.  Among its many pleasures are the deftly-etched humans (both living and dead) who fall in love, fight, and even give birth in the corners of its canvas.

Ironically, it wasn't until this viewing that I realized how much Truly had affected me as a writer, for I saw it was evidently an indirect, unconscious influence on my forthcoming novel, Imagine Me and You (an excerpt of which will be published in this week's issue of the L.A. Weekly, available around town and on-line Thursday March 27th).

You can find a more thorough elegy for Minghella here, and a reprint of the apropos Neruda poem recited in Truly, here.  The man will be missed, but the beauty part, of course, is that he'll always be with us.  His movie is also about that -- what survives, what endures, what each of us can give to each other in leaving, as a true act of love.  So thank you, Anthony, for Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Comments

[E.C. Henry]

Never saw, "Truely, Madly, Deeply," but after your stiring tribute to Anthony Minghella, and your description of its theme I'm hooked.

Billy, why aren't you in marketing? You have a way of getting me to watch films that normally I'd skip, like "Pan's Labyrinth," which truely, madly, deeply afected how I wrote on my more recent spec. scripts.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[Judith Duncan]

Hi Billy,no wonder I'm drawn to this site,you constantly nail it.
About ten years ago a friend of mine raved about Truly Madly Deeply and I rented it on video.Luckily I was alone at the time,because I ended up a sobbing mess on the floor.Having dealt with death as a child I knew that horrible reality of the all too real dream where the loved one is still alive.I think this is where the 'room splitter' aspect of this film comes into being.I also think this is the 'skinless' element of the film.Because as you mention,it doesn't have that mawkish romanticism of Ghost it is a more visceral experience.As I am writing my own film now I revisited Truly and could appreciate it so much more,and find all the wonderful layers.I even researched some of Pablo Neruda's poems for inspiration and found an amazing version of Poema 20 set to a Rudolf Valentino film on Youtube.So from someone in this little community of people.Thanks again for the insight.
Cheers,
Judith

[Elizabeth Kerri Mahon]

Hi Billy! I too absolutely adore this film and I agree with you about GHOST. Funny though when I first saw GHOST I fell for it, but when I saw TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY, I realized just how shallow and meaningless GHOST really was. Compare Juliet Stevenson's grief to Demi Moore's one perfect tear. This performance, his performance as Colonel Brandon, and his work in Love Actually show that Alan Rickman can do more than just play the baddie of the week. Although I hated Cold Mountain, the fact that we will never know what else Anthony Minghella was capable of is heart-breaking.

[Jenbeeps]

I tried to watch Truly, Madly, Deeply repeatedly, because of the enormous critical acclaim. But, I still do not like this movie. I feel is legacy and brilliance will always be with "The English Patient".

[Kathrin]

Hi Billy,

Just read about Minghella´s death - Truly is truly wonderfull. I haven´t seen it in a while but apart from the two love stories there´s this feeling of reality -Rickman teasing Stevenson etc.,the handyman, the rats that makes this a film to remember for me.

Thanks for your insights!

Kathrin
P.S. Wim Wenders began one of his films with the designation: to the angels: Akira, Francois, Jean (meaning Kurosawa, Truffaut, Renoir e.a.) - you could now add Anthony to that

[sal]

Billy, thank you for this post. "Truly Madly Deeply" has been in my top three since I first saw it, and I love it to bits. There was a time in my life when there were nights I just needed to cry, and I would put on TMD because it would make me cry but also leave me feeling hopeful. In fact one night in that spell, a friend of mine rang and found me in tears and said "you're watching "Truly Madly Deeply" again, aren't you?" He was right, I was, and felt better for it.

The casting, I feel, is perfect - the age of the actors gives them a certain gravitas, its not just about flighty young ones, this is about people who have lived and loved, and hope to find love again. One of my favourite scenes is when all the supporting guys pop up to say how much they love Nina; and the most astonishingly moving scene for me is when Jamie is watching out of the window with all his musician pals around him as Nina leaves - beautifully done.

Anthony Minghella will be sorely missed, a great loss to our industry. Thanks for this sweet elegy.

[mernitman]

EC: Hope you enjoy it. Hang in there through the first act -- things get easier after.

Judith: Thanks for sharing your experience. That Neruda Poem...!

Elizabeth: I was disappointed in "Cold Mountain" as well (having so loved the book), but Minghella's work has in the balance been so good, and so deeply felt...

Welcome Jenbeeps: "Patient" is a freakin' masterpice (one of the most brilliant adaptations of an "un-adaptable" book I've ever seen), and I don't care what Julia Louis Dreyfuss and the legions of naysayers say. As for "Truly," I believe the old expression is: That's what makes horse racing?

Kathrin: I'll sadly, passionately, respectfully add Anthony's name to such a list.

Sal: Those are great moments. And the basic message of the film is so simple, and so profound...

[Joanna Farnsworth]

Ah, Truly Madly Deeply. As I remember, it was the culmination of Minghella's superb 1980's TV writing. When the world from the British sofa was never better.

Billy, thanks, for placing Truly high in your Rom Com classics. It hits hard and deep. The way love should. A Minghella best.

[kristen]

I really enjoyed Truly, Madly, Deeply, which I saw for the first time a little over a year ago. I'm thinking it's time to watch it again. So sad about Mr. Minghella. The Talented Mr. Ripley is one of my favorites.

[J]

I couldn't get into Ghost.

Mostly because Demi Moore hurts my eyes for some reason, and the whole attic scene where Swayze is beating up devil-ghosts or whatever...it's damn weird.

[Butch]

If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend watching the extras on the "Cold Mountain" DVD. Anthony Minghella put so much work into his pictures. When I get tired and start feeling overwhelmed by all the work I need to do for my upcoming indie romantic comedy, "The Bride and the Grooms" (myspace.com/thebridemovie), I think, "Relax, it's not like I have to dress everyone in period costumes and take them to Romania."

[mernitman]

Joanna: World from that sofa must've been good, then. Was that the start of Eastenders?

Krsiten: I'm gearing up for another RIPLEY viewing.

J: The potting scene, however, must go into the Instant Parody of Itself annals.

Butch: Or wrangle WWII fighter planes...

[Cath]

Here here! I have often said that "Truly" is one of the most under-rated movies in history. Wonderfully sad and romantic - gut-wrenching pain in the opening sequence, and the wonderful way that the movie shows her getting on with her life.

It is a romantic comedy - of the very best sort. This movie is also the reason that I have always declared that Alan Rickman is the thinking woman's sex symbol!

[Stephanie]

I realize that this may begin strangely, but bear with me as I assure you I have point. The Bravo TV Channel changed my life. Back before it was home to wealthy housewives and high end reality competitions, Bravo used to air quality independent films fairly regularly on Friday nights. I would come home from high school, and find myself treated to showings of films like Cinema Paradiso or A Room With a View. And that is how I first came to see Truly, Madly, Deeply.

I don't think it's possible to overstate what a profound experience Truly, Madly, Deeply was for me. For a film about a ghost, it was more real and honest than anything I had ever seen.

It was that movie watching experience - curled up on my parents' couch on a Friday night watching TV of all things - that made me want to be a filmmaker, and eventually landed me in film school.

It saddens me that the first opportunity I've really had to express gratitude for the influence that Anthony Minghella's work has had on my life has been after his passing. I hope that because of writers like you speaking of his work, and Truly, Madly, Deeply in particular, that others from a post Bravo TV generation will be turned on to it the way that I was, and find meaningful futures in film and writing.

[mernitman]

Cath: I'm sure Mr. Rickman would be happy to hear your sobriquet.

Stephanie: Thanks for sharing that experience -- I think Minghella would've been delighted to know that he got you into all this!

[Lucy]

What everyone else has pretty much said - loved TMD too. Fantastic writing, fantastic performance from the leads. The first time I watched it I was quite a small child and I didn't *really* understand it, I just knew somehow it was something special... I watched it again as a teen and was hooked. Anthony Minghella will be missed. I think your post exploring one of his best works though is fab Billy, I'm sure lots of people will be inspired to watch it now. A fitting tribute.

[diaphoresis]

That is such a good movie I think I have been seen it like a hundred times and, I must say that I never get tired.