Such a bad-bad movie... I had quite high expectations before seeing it (even if the name of Anthony Minghella should have made me suspicious), but this film didn't even meet my lowest expectations. Though shot in beautiful landscapes (in Romania, I read), it is overblown, boring and didn't touch me at all. Only in a very few moments I felt that all this could have been much better - as in the sequence with the young widow (Natalie Portman) searching a moment of comfort with Inman (Jude Law). Renée Zellweger's genuinely comic performance was also one of the few good points - even though the script didn't help her much.
And please: Nicole Kidman is quite a good actress, but she was definitely too old for this part - especially with her Botox-ridden features... Compare her in this movie with her superb and fresh performance in the amazing "Dogville", only about a year earlier. What a downfall... :-(
And please: Nicole Kidman is quite a good actress, but she was definitely too old for this part - especially with her Botox-ridden features... Compare her in this movie with her superb and fresh performance in the amazing "Dogville", only about a year earlier. What a downfall... :-(