A mastectomy and a course of chemo has not dented Ida’s sunny disposition but the dark cloud of adultery puts a dampener on her delighting in her daughter’s wedding.

Beautifully played by Trine Dyrholm, Ida is resolute in the hope of her own remission from cancer and that her daughter’s nuptials will go ahead without a hitch. But that’s just it – if it does go without a hitch – if you get my drift – there’ll be no wedding.

This is the set up of the multi generational rom-com LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED (M).

Set in a beautiful, old villa in Sorrento, Italy, in the middle of a lemon grove, the film is picture postcard perfect, and with the addition of Pierce Brosnan as the groom’s father, Philip, one cannot help but think this is MAMA MIA without the music and a dollop more of good old Scandinavian melancholy.

Directed by Academy Award winner Susanne Bier (Best Foreign Language Film In a Better World), LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED is not as tightly structured or as emotionally charged as her previous film, but may just crack it as a commercial chick flick.

Bier telegraphs her intentions right from the start by changing the colour of the cancer ward from austere clinical to bright yellow, not only the colour of hope but of the citrus crop that adorns the wedding venue.

Weddings are always a hot bed of potential drama, and Biers long time screenwriting collaborator, Anders Thomas Jensen, picks away at the happy families hypocrisy that heats the potential for boil over.

Showing an intense insensitivity bordering on the incredulous, Ida’s philandering husband and father of the bride, Leif (Kim Bodnia) shows up at the villa with his slut squeeze secretary; Philip’s sister in law, Benedikte, (Paprika Steen) proclaims her bunny boiler fixation for her dead sister’s spouse; and the groom’s sexuality is challenged by a queer caterer keen on showing him his culinary lingua.

Sebastian Jessen’s casting as Pierce Brosnan’s son is exemplary with Jessen not only having a physical resemblance to Brosnan but a similar speech pattern as well. All in all, a flawed but entertaining bit of Euro autumn rom com.

© Richard Cotter

13th December, 2012

Tags: Sydney Movie Reviews- LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED, Suzanna Bier, Trina Dyrholm, Pierce Brosnan, Anders Thomas Jensen, Kim Bodnia, Paprike Steen, Sebastian Jessen, Sydney Arts Guide, Richard Cotter