It's All About Love (DVD)

The synopsis of ‘It’s All About Love’ reads very much like that of any other science fiction film. In the year 2021 the world is on the brink of meltdown; all over the planet people are dropping down dead in the street due to an unspecified heart complaint, in Uganda civilians are rising from the ground and flying, and in New York it’s snowing in July. Against this backdrop of cosmic disturbance a young couple are meeting to sign their divorce papers. ...
...(Clare Danes) a world famous ice skater now based in New York, have let distance and circumstance tear them apart. What is meant to be a two hour stopover to sign some papers turns into a week of intrigue and peril as John realises there are sinister forces at work in Elena’s life and in trying to save her simultaneously realises that regardless of distance and circumstance, it’s all about love.

At its most simplistic, without revealing ... more

The synopsis of ‘It’s All About Love’ reads very much like that of any other science fiction film. In the year 2021 the world is on the brink of meltdown; all over the planet people are dropping down dead in the street due to an unspecified heart complaint, in Uganda civilians are rising from the ground and flying, and in New York it’s snowing in July. Against this backdrop of cosmic disturbance a young couple are meeting to sign their divorce papers. John (Joaquin Phoenix) a literature professor in Poland and Elena (Clare Danes) a world famous ice skater now based in New York, have let distance and circumstance tear them apart. What is meant to be a two hour stopover to sign some papers turns into a week of intrigue and peril as John realises there are sinister forces at work in Elena’s life and in trying to save her simultaneously realises that regardless of distance and circumstance, it’s all about love.

At its most simplistic, without revealing any major plot twists or revelations that is what this film is about, a love story on threshold of the next ice age; but ‘It’s All About Love’ is about as far from ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ as you could possibly get. Writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (co-writer of the ‘Dogme’ film manifesto) has called the film ‘a report on the state of the world’. The report though is not one of environmental scare mongering, but rather about the state of human relationships and a deliberately cryptic one at that. The film almost totally sacrifices a linear narrative in favour of allegory (the unspecified heart complaint is the absence of love) and attempts at profundity. Hence though there are occasions where the dialogue can be beautiful it’s near complete reluctance to advance the plot (or our understanding of what’s going on) can often be frustrating.

Frustrating too is the other major plot strand. The ‘thriller’ element to the film relies on you accepting that being an ice skater in the ‘not too distant future’ is very much like being Madonna and that an entire company (or ‘family’) would be dependant on such a super star. So if such a commodity wanted to retire attempts to dissuade or replace them would be suitably dastardly and drastic. Without totally giving the game away these attempts have a sci-fi flavour too which, on occasion, can be genuinely spooky. The difficultly isn’t suspending your disbelief, it’s understanding what’s going on as Elena’s plight is never really fully explained logically and symbolically is harder to fathom than lack of love weakening one’s heart. Just what is Vinterberg trying to say? Should we merely put it down to an excuse to use some striking visual effects and as a catalyst for some Hitchcockian flights across an Art Deco New York?

Perhaps this is the best way to look at it, Vinterberg claims that the plot of the film is unimportant to him and as for genre, he categorises it as a dream. Dream like it is and visually ‘It’s All About Love’ is a masterpiece. It’s one of those films that you could pause at any point and the resultant frame would always be stunning thanks to DoP Anthony Dod Mantle (also responsible for ‘Dogville’). As is the fashion more recently (even in mainstream sci-fi like ‘Paycheck’) the future of our planet takes inspiration from the past. Costumes and sets are very reminiscent of the forties and fifties. Production Designer Ben van Os (Oscar nominated for his work on ‘Orlando’) creates the ostentatiously false the world of ‘It’s All About Love’ and builds it on a scale reminiscent of the old school of film making. If there is one notable visual comparison to be made it is with Hitchcock’s 1950s and 60s Technicolor thrillers (‘Vertigo’, ‘The Birds’ and ‘Marnie’ in particular). In addition to being just generally stunning the film offers some set pieces guaranteed to delight and astound including an amazingly shot, climactic ice dance which would put any performance of ‘Swan Lake’ to shame.

Those of you familiar with Vinterberg and Lars Von Trier’s Dogme Manifesto will be thinking that all this spectacle couldn’t be further from the rules of filmmaking the pair laid down in 1995. In fact ‘It’s All About Love’ is so far from those rigid constraints that Co-writer Mogens Rukov calls the film ‘Anti-Dogme’; sets, studios, no hand held cameras, Phoenix claimed he spent more time in front of a green screen for this film than he did making ‘Gladiator’.

Just as breathtaking as its striking visuals is the film’s score by Zbigniew Preisner. Best known for his work on Kieslowski’s Three Colours Trilogy, Preisner is as responsible for setting the film’s tone of unreality as any of its vivid visuals or bizarre turns of events. It is a tapestry of delights encompassing a huge array of styles from melancholy piano and strings, to eerie nursery rhyme like refrains and from haunting and heartbreaking choirs to gentle forties jazz. One of the film’s great successes is its music and thanks to Preisner’s imaginative and emotive work it is worth watching for its score alone.

In this dreamlike state of filmmaking performances are harder to judge. Phoenix is unshakably brilliant and carries off his Polish accent with aplomb. John is very much the staple of Phoenix’s back catalogue a restrained, brooding and highly attractive man – perhaps this is just what Phoenix brings with him to a part. Having a little more trouble with her accent is Clare Danes, accents aside the part of Elena gives Danes far more opportunity to stretch her range and the multifaceted performance she delivers has a good deal more personality than purely a damsel in distress. Even when portraying the most featured, subdued version of Elena you can’t help but feel Danes’ slight woodenness is a deliberate tribute to Tippi Hedren in her roles as Hitch’s ice cold blonde.

The supporting cast are limited in screen time but well put together and including two stalwarts of British television Alun Armstrong and Mark Strong. The altogether strangest part is that of John’s brother Marciello played (with less than perfect polish intonation) by Sean Penn. Perpetually in on a plane Penn narrates by recording letters to John, like Vinterberg he is writing a report on the state of the world and offers us some glimpse at what the director is trying to communicate to us. As ever though, it is just out of reach.

There is so much beauty in ‘It’s All About Love’ it’s worth appreciating simply as a wonderful work of art. As a film however, it’s confusing, frustrating and unbelievably slow paced. Take your pick.

To hear some of the film's stunning score visit the official website.

http://www.tvropa.com/itsallaboutlove/ 

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