Love Is All You Need Blu-ray Review

 

Actors: Trine Dyrholm, Pierce Brosnan

Director: Susanne Bier

Format: AC-3, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English  

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R (Restricted)

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Run Time: 116 minutes

 

 

        Love Is All You Need is a Danish film set in Italy with an English star. If that sounds complex, it would be fittingly so. Though this may have been a cliché romantic comedy or an overwrought melodrama in Hollywood, it makes for ceaselessly unexpected delights at the hand of Danish auteur, Susanne Bier. The screenplay was written by another predominant filmmaker in Scandinavian cinema, Anders Thomas Jensen, who does a great deal in helping the narrative along with believable ease, but it is Bier’s ability to direct her actors which elevates Love Is All You Need beyond the limitations usually applied to genre films such as these.

 

        The narrative’s main focus surrounds the days leading up to a wedding held at a villa in Sorrento, Italy. Philip (Pierce Brosnan) is an English widow running his produce business from Denmark, intentionally choosing a life of solitude after the passing of his wife. Ida is a Danish hairdresser who has just endured a round of chemotherapy in hopes of defeating her cancer when she discovers that her husband has been cheating. Philip and Ida have a tear-filled meet-cute in the airport on the way to the wedding of Philip’s son and Ida’s daughter.

 

        The family dysfunction endures on both sides of the family, with Ida’s repugnant husband and young mistress being the highlight. At the same time, the situation provides Ida and Philip the opportunity to get to know each other. Nothing comes easily, and although Love Is All You Need is romantic and will make you laugh, it is not as safe or black-and-white as most Hollywood romantic comedies tend to be. With that being said, the film plays “That’s Amore” five times, and uses nearly three exposition shots between every scene. I understand that the setting was gorgeous and the footage is truly incredible, but the editing could have been a bit less indulgent and the soundtrack less repetitious.

 

        The Blu-ray release includes a commentary track with Brosnan and Bier, as well as three featurettes with cast/crew interviews. There is a behind-the-scenes featurette with Dyrholm, interviews with the cast from the Venice Film Festival press conference, and a Q&A with the two stars, the director and the screenwriter.  

 

       

Entertainment Value: 8/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 8.5/10

Historical Significance: 7.5/10

Disc Features: 7/10