The Republic Of Love (2004)

the audience applauded

hyped garbage

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE is yet another fine film from Canada based on Canadian Pulitzer Prize Winner (for 'The Stone Diaries') Carol Shields' novel by the same name, and written for the screen and directed by the gifted Deepa Mehta ('Earth', 'Fire', 'Water', etc). It is a satisfying story about the human boundaries set by/for love and how those 'republics' touch and clash and interact.Tom Avery (the very gifted actor Bruce Greenwood) was an illegitimate child, raised by a homemaker class as a teaching lesson in how young brides to be should learn the skills of tending house, who has grown up, married three times out of a need for belonging and for being loved, and is currently unattached, making his living as a night talk show host helping the lonely hearts. Into his life steps the beautiful museum curator, currently immersed in a Mermaid exhibition, by the name of Fay (Emilia Fox) who remains single because of her exceptionally high demands for a partner. The two meet, fall immediately in love much to their individual surprise, and proceed to court and encounter other couples (especially their parents) who seem to hold the winning medals for perfect marriage.Fay's parents (James Fox is Richard, the father) have just celebrated their anniversary when Richard abruptly decides to leave his wife. Fay runs to her mother's rescue, leaving Tom alone and the apparent brunt of Fay's disillusion of marriage. The changes that occur cause Tom to reflect on his history of marrying too often in unions that have not met with success. How Fay and Tom ultimately resolve the abutments of their personal republics is the part of the story that carries the film.The entire cast includes some of Canada's finest actors and the film is solidly directed by Mehta. There are aspects that disrupt the flow of the story, the main one being the incessant and very loud East Indian music that seems wholly out of place and is at best distracting (the score was written by Talvin Singh). Mehta also elects to throw in some bizarre cutesy animation at the end that for this viewer cheapens the story. But flaws aside, this is a fine film graced by the presence of Bruce Greenwood and Emilia Fox. Recommended entry from Film Movement. Grady Harp

I love romantic movies with a bit of the comedic. This movie filled that need wonderfully and added mythic tone as well with both Mermaids and Indian music/themes. I have to admit the script's attempt to capture the complex history and intertwined lives was a bit difficult to follow on first blush. However, given the important theme of this interconnectedness (wow what a silly term), I can understand the desire, need, and effort. There are few movies that i return to again and again, Still Breathing, Pleasantville, Beat of the Heart, etc. that give me that warm feeling inside that love is possible. Yeah I know its supposed to be complicated changing etc. and more than a bit self centered, e.g., Woody Allen's movies are rife with that. I would love to get the soundtrack of this movie as well, but fear that may be hard to do, suspect I will have to track down each piece myself online for my pod. Returning to the movie -- This movie also hearkens back to 30s and 40s when it was OK to have a romantic script. Among the actor's I particularly enjoyed the performance of Fay (E. Fox) and look forward to seeing more of her work.

The problem with 'Republic of Love' is that it is a film made because it has a good filmmaker, not a good script. There was totally inadequate attention to detail in the drawing of the lead characters, and the result is a sprawl that is tied together by a good visual sense, not a good narrative one. If you are making a political allegory, that can be fine, but if it is a love story, you are sunk. I kept thinking about all of those publicly funded organisations which had bank-rolled the film and, in spite of my leanings towards the public support of fine filmmakers, found myself thinking that people who were risking their own money would not have jumped with such a weak script (and barely adequate cast...)

This is the new offering by Deepa Mehta, most recently she of Hollywood Bollywood, a Canadian hit last year. In fact there is an `in' joke in Republic of Love and if you have seen H.B. you'll spot it. The movie is based on a book by the late Carol Shields and surmises that each of us is our own `republic'. The theme of the movie is based on `geography is destiny' and it seems so in this case.Republic of Love is a love story between two very different people, Tom and Fay. Tom was illegitimate and his mother, we are told, suffered from post partum depression. Tom was used as a practice baby for a class of young homemakers to be and thus had his start overlooked and spoiled by 27 `mothers'. This seems to have shaped his destiny. He is now in his early 40's, married and divorced 3 times and he wonders what love really is. He gets told every night by his listeners - he is a late night radio talk and music show host - and he gets a wide range of opinions from bitter to sentimental. He is also surrounded by good relationships so why is it so difficult for him to find one that lasts?Fay is a museum curator, never married, whose parents have been happily married for 40 years. This has shaped her destiny. She too us surrounded by happy relationships. In addition to her parents' marriage, Her brother is married with kids, her godparents have never been married but are devoted to each other. All of this perceived perfection has the effect of making Fay keep her relationships at arms' length, a little detached. They never work out because they couldn't possibly measure up to her parents' shining example. She has just pushed away her current boyfriend because he wants to move in.Tom and Fay turn out to have several mutual acquaintances. She even knows all of his ex wives. Tom and Fay meet at a children's Halloween party and it's literally love at first sight. Tom realizes what love really feels like and she in turn, is suddenly and inexorably ready to take that leap of faith into the sea of commitment. Serendipitously, they even live in the same apartment building, two floors apart. Clearly, it's meant to be. Ah, but why bother making a movie at all if it was as open and shut as that? Fay's parents split up out of the blue which rocks her to her core and she doesn't deal with it very well. See? Even perfect relationships don't last! I saw it at the Atlantic Film Festival and we had a brief introduction to it by one of the producers who described the movie as being about the different colours of love, different kinds of relationships and how they work for the different couples including the dynamics between Fay and her father and Tom and his mother who found the love of her life finally at age 52. We all know that our relationships with our parents can have a profound effect on our adult relationships with others and all that is reflected here. Not in enough detail, however. You always feel like there should be more to the story, or that some link is missing. That is often what happens when adapting a book for the screen. The performances are all very good including a delightful one by Jackie Borroughs as Tom's mother. Most of us Canadians will remember her as Aunt Hetty from The Road to Avonlea. There are one or two other faces that will be familiar to Canadian film fans (Rebecca Jenkins). The cast seems mainly Caucasian yet the background music is most definitely Indian-Asian in flavour which seemed out of place to me so many I missed something there.It's not a bad movie, but it was predictable as well. Fay's main area of expertise at the museum of Folklore, currently, is documenting and researching sightings of mermaids, a mythical unobtainable creature of perfection. Duh. Tom works nights in an underground `city', deserted once the overhead office blocks empty for the day (Toronto's PATH system it looks like). He's out of touch with the day to day reality, comings and goings of most people he knows and aside from his producer, spends his nights talking to lonely insomniacs.It all works out in the end. It's a love story and nobody would go to see it if it didn't. Is it worth seeing? Yes. It's a good movie, but not a great one.