Truly, Madly, Deeply
| Truly, Madly, Deeply | |
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Reproduction poster
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| Directed by | Anthony Minghella |
| Produced by | Robert Cooper |
| Written by | Anthony Minghella |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Barrington Pheloung |
| Cinematography | Remi Adefarasin |
| Edited by | John Stothart |
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Production
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| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
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Release date
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Running time
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106 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,554,742 |
Truly, Madly, Deeply is a 1990 British fantasy music drama film made for the BBC's Screen Two series, by BBC Films, Lionheart and Winston Pictures. The film, written and directed by Anthony Minghella, stars Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman.
Nina, an interpreter, is beside herself with grief at the recent death of her boyfriend, Jamie, a cellist. When she is on the verge of despair, Jamie reappears as a "ghost" and the couple are reconciled. The screenplay never clarifies whether this occurs in reality, or merely in Nina's imagination. Nina is ecstatic, but Jamie's behaviour – turning up the central heating to stifling levels, moving furniture around and inviting back "ghost friends" to watch videos – gradually infuriates her, and their relationship deteriorates. She meets Mark, a psychologist, to whom she is attracted, but she is unwilling to become involved with him because of Jamie's continued presence. Nina continues to love Jamie but is conflicted by his self-centred behaviour and ultimately wonders out loud, "Was it always like this?" Over Nina’s objections, Jamie decides to leave to allow her to move on. Towards the end of the film, Jamie watches Nina leave and one of his fellow ghosts asks, "Well?" and Jamie responds, "I think so... Yes." At this point the central conceit of the movie has become clear: Jamie came back specifically to help Nina get over him by tarnishing her idealised memory of him.
Minghella said he wrote the script specifically as "a vehicle for [Stevenson] to express all her talents. She plays piano, likes dancing and has a quirky side to her which she usually can't express in the classical parts she is asked for." The title comes from a word game played by the main characters, in which they challenge each other to by turns repeat and add to a series of adverbs describing the depths of their mutual affection. The working title for the film was 'Cello', a reference not only to the cello within the film, but also to the Italian word 'cielo' for heaven. The film was made-for-TV, and produced in a 28-day shooting schedule for just $650,000.
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