THE MOVIE

Nina is totally heartbroken at the death of her boyfriend Jamie, but is even more unprepared for his return as a ghost. At first it's almost as good as it used to be - hey, even the rats that infested her house have disappeared. But Jamie starts bringing ghostly friends home and behaving more and more oddly, and, in the end, Nina is forced into the arms of another man, which is exactly what Jamie wanted. Unable to see her waste her life away pining for him, he forces her to become attached to someone else.

This is an interesting premise and one that I felt had a lot of potential when I read the box. However, it fails in the execution. That isn’t to say that it is an all out poor film, far from it. It just isn’t as good as it could be. I got the impression that it was trying to be too much and that hurts it. Whilst it could have worked as a straight out Romantic Comedy, or a Drama (ala Ghost) it mixes too many genres together and ends up a bit of a mishmash.

Still, if you like this kind of film definitely check it out. Film buffs may like to see how the director, Minghella, who went on to make the very different (and better) English Patient and Talented Mr Ripley, cut his teeth.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Truly Madly Deeply is presented in 1.33:1 widescreen. Whilst this may not seem right, the film was shot for TV and the director has stated his intention for the film to be in 1.33:1. Anyways, the film, due to it’s age and intended destination, isn’t super sharp and tends to become soft. However, it never gets so soft that detail becomes lost. Colors look better than I would have expected and the blacks and shadow detail are acceptable.

Grain and other problems are fairly constant although there are no MPEG artefacts to be seen. All up a very decent presentation.

Audio:

The film is presented in either English or French, both tracks are 2.0 ones. As this is a dialogue heavy film the 2.0 track is fine and most of the action takes place at the front with the rears only coming into play on minor occasions. Music, comes across well and has a nice sound to it, never impacting on the dialogue. A good, simple effort that is perfect for the film and this DVD.

THE EXTRAS

We only have a trailer on this disc which is a shame as the R1 version has a commentary and a featurette.

SUMMARY

The DVD presentation isn’t that great, although this film doesn’t really scream for one. Still, it is always nice to get the best on DVD. This is certainly a watchable and serviceable DVD that whilst lacking in extras makes for a good renter for fans of this type of movie.