Truly, Madly, Deeply

Juliet Stevenson - Nina
Alan Rickman - Jamie
Bill Paterson - Sandy
Jenny Howe - Burge
Carolyn Choa - Translator
Michael Maloney - Mark
Christopher Rozycki - Titus
Keith Bartlett - Plumber

A perennial fantasy film subject is that of ghosts coming back to affect the lives of the living. I don't mean the horrific approach of The Uninvited, The Haunting, or The Legend of Hell House. The films I am talking about have spirits walking among us relatively benignly. Topper is a good example; so are Beetlejuice and Two Husbands’. The success of Ghost will probably spawn several more examples in the next year or two. However, because of timing it seems likely we can ascribe to coincidence the similarities between Ghost and the BBC film Truly, Madly, Deeply, though in some ways the two are quite similar.

Jamie (Alan Rickman) has been dead for a while now, but Nina (Juliet Stevenson) refuses to close that chapter in her life and get on with the business of living. She imagines Jamie is still around giving her advice. Nina sleepwalks through a life that is shattered and crumbles more day by day. Then a spectral Jamie does return and takes up residence as Nina's secret live-in (if "live" is the right word) lover. He explains his presence by quoting Dylan Thomas saying, "And death shall have no dominion."

If the plot of Truly, Madly, Deeply resembles that of Ghost, in style the two are very different. There is a lot that Ghost tries to do that Truly, Madly, Deeply does not. The British film is far more sad, slow, and introspective. Ghost throws in a major sub-plot of a crime story; it has a comedy sub-plot with Whoopi Goldberg; it stops and closely examines just what powers a ghost would and would not have. It also has its sad and introspective moments, but they do not last too long. To pack so much into a film may be of dubious value, but it is all there. Truly, Madly, Deeply clearly has different priorities and very different pacing. It takes its time to build Nina's character, but it glosses over the metaphysics and there seem to be notable inconsistencies in the nature of ghosts (e.g., at times the ghosts seem to take care that they cannot be overheard; at other times it does not seem to bother them). There is some whimsy, some warm comedy, and one character that is well observed, but overall this is a rather slight film and a disappointment.
Review© Mark R. Leeper.