Love Is All You Need

Finding a great foreign film is a treasure; I like watching stories about people who live in other cultures and seeing landscapes I have yet to visit. Reading subtitles does not faze me (nor should it deter you from renting a foreign flick). With a little practice, you will find that you can skillfully read the subtitles while still enjoying the visual piece of the movie.

When I came across the Danish film Love Is All You Need, I put it in my Netflix queue and it worked its way up. Set in Copenhagen, Denmark, and more extensively in Sorrento, Italy, the characters speak mainly Danish and British English. The film is from award winning director Susanne Bier, whose film In a Better World won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. In 2013, Love Is All You Need was selected as the best comedy film at the 26^th European Film Awards.

Starring Pierce Brosnan and a capable cast of actors who were unfamiliar to me, it is a character driven romantic comedy rated R for brief sexuality, nudity and some language.

Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is a Danish woman who describes herself as unlucky “lately,” her biggest challenge being treatment for breast cancer. Her daughter is marrying a young man Ida has yet to meet. The wedding is to be held on an estate in Sorrento, Italy owned by the groom’s father Philip (Pierce Brosnan), which includes a lemon grove and a spacious seaside villa. The two families of the happy couple soon to be joined, for better or worse, till death they do part, gather for the nuptials, rowdy friends of the bride and groom joining them on the eve of the event for the pre-wedding party at the villa.

This is a sweet story with a subtle, emotional performance by Pierce Brosnan, a widower who has never remarried and who doesn’t quite know how to be supportive of his son. Ida has her own challenges with her husband, and she has somehow stayed positive through everything, showing us this with her enchantingly beautiful smile. Everyone grows in this film, and Ida the most. The young couple appears so young, and it surprised me a bit that no one questions them about marrying after only having met three months ago. They have much to learn.

The landscape of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast is simply stunning, and figured into the reasons I got this movie. If I’m watching a film with a good storyline, then the icing on the cake is a fabulous setting. You can practically feel the ocean breezes, smell the scent of lemons, and bask in the warmth of the Mediterranean.

That’s Amore, sung by Dean Martin, and other variations on that song, are woven throughout the film, tying together the storyline as much as the characters and scenery. I liked the entire film and it had a realistic ending. I think you will find it as wonderful to watch as I did.