A wonderful quiet love story

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2015)

I've just watched this again yesterday after a few years since I first saw it, and then watched it again tonight because I was so completely captivated by it. This is exactly what happened when I first saw it too, and now I know I'll be listening to the soundtrack on hard rotation for a few days at least.
For me, this film doesn't put a foot wrong. It's perfectly paced, to match the pace of the developing love story. The music is mesmerising at times, heartbreaking at others. The acting is subtle, but spot on. The filming is beautiful, even with the jerky camera work, it matches the rough edges of the lives of the characters. All the things that I've seen people criticise this film for, I would argue are things that work perfectly for this film, this story, the love affair and the struggles.
There is something about this that puts me in mind of Brief Encounter - I don't hold it in such high esteem, but it is a wonderfully pitched story, that asks you to look deep into it to understand what the characters aren't saying, what they aren't doing, and to be able to reach an understanding of their choices while feeling the turmoil their own brief encounter puts them through.
Life rarely gives us the Hollywood plot line. The twists and turns of our daily encounters mean that choices aren't always clear cut, but are so often compromises. Guy and Girl here face those compromised outcomes - what might have been, have they got all they could or could have hoped for. All of this is clear when you look at them through the film, and the music supports that understanding, sometimes driving the point home like a knife. This is genuinely one of the most beautiful and gut wrenching films I have seen.