An unlikely relationship blossoms in the preparations of a wedding in Italy.
Directed by: Susanne Bier
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Sebastian Jessen, Molly Blixt Egelind, Kim Bodnia
Hairdresser Ida (Dyrholm) sports a blond wig, concealing the fact she has just come through chemo treatment for breast cancer, yet still awaits final results. She returns home to find her husband, Leif (Bodnia), cheating on her with a younger woman from his office. The couple's daughter, Astrid (Egelind), is about to be married in Italy, so they decide to travel there separately. At the airport, Ida crashes her car into that of Philip (Brosnan), a grumpy and misanthropic fruit magnate whose outlook is as bitter as the lemons he trades in. Philip just happens to be the father of the young man Ida's daughter is marrying. Reluctantly, Philip and Ida travel to Italy together. Once there, an unlikely romance blossoms between the two.
Scandinavian cinema, and its TV, has become synonymous with gritty crime dramas in recent years. The romantic comedy isn't the first genre you associate with the region, particularly Denmark, the home of such controversy courting directors as Lars Von Trier, Nicholas Winding Refn and Thomas Vinterberg. Indeed, Susanne Bier, the director of 'Love Is All You Need', is herself known for much heavier fare. The theme of coping with death runs through her work and is again present here, with Brosnan playing a man who becomes angry at the world following his wife's senseless death in a car accident.
That's not to say this is a heavy movie, far from it, but it does contain a level of substance absent from the romantic comedies Hollywood churns out. For a start, our two leads are actually likable and worth rooting for. Dyrholm feels like an everyday middle-aged woman who's been dropped into a rom-com scenario. Brosnan's character is more of a movie archetype but he manages to make the role seem fresh. The Irishman is a very under-rated actor, possibly because he doesn't take himself too seriously, but he possesses a range he rarely receives credit for. In the over-looked 2006 western, 'Seraphim Falls' he delivered a stunning dramatic performance and here he shows just how good his comic timing is.
Apart from a disappointingly predictable ending, 'LIAYN' is a charming rom-com aimed at middle-aged viewers but accessible to all but those too ignorant to read subtitles.
7/10
