Truly, Madly, etc.

Lemme just say this—for a stunning lot of us , this has been a brutal fucking week. Bowie and now Rickman? //shakes fist at sky// I’ve got limits ya know!

The movie Truly Madly Deeply came out just after my beloved bestie Kevin died. I was a mess—a thousand miles beyond sad. On top of that, the minute I got back to Boston from his funeral, I got the news that my father was in hospital with major heart probs. I turned around and headed for the airport, back to Pennsylvania so's I could bully him into surviving (which he had the good sense to do).

Rough week.

When I eventually returned home, I jumped right back into work. Def not one of my brighter moves. I belatedly realized that I could do with a little time to myself and thought oh, a day spent in a nice dark movie theater with a bucket of popcorn ought to see me right (yeah sure). I scheduled a mental health day.

I didn’t know what Truly Madly Deeply was about but it was playing down at my local fav arthouse. For some reason (the poster maybe?), I thought it would be a wacky, sweet, surreal comedy. It was that and a shit-ton more.

Wikipedia describesTruly, Madly, Deeply as a "British fantasy, music, drama film."  They left out that it was also a comedy.

Fantasy √ There are ghosts but they're funny ghosts! I like those.
Music √ Alan Rickman playing the cello (he did all his own bowing anyway). If souls could sing, they'd sound like a rich, sonorous cello. I'm certain of that.
Drama √√√ I was unprepared for this part. Before all the spectral hilarity ensues, Nina loses the love of her life, the cello playing Jamie. She’s devastated. Of course.

 Juliet Stevenson as Nina was pretty fucking awesome. From The Sheila Variations:

There’s a scene in a psychiatrist’s office – the entire thing is done in tight tight close-up on Stevenson’s face. She is feeling it. She is in a RAGE at what has been taken from her. She howls with grief. I have goosebumps just writing it. It is acting that takes your breath away. When you see what Stevenson does in this scene – it makes you realize that every other “mourning” scene you have ever watched pales in comparison.

Yes, the movie’s brimming with funny bits BUT it was Stephenson’s depiction of grief that nailed me. She was acting out how I felt at Kevin’s exit from this good green world. I sat in the theater sobbing my eyes out (complete with hiccups). Cathartic is what it was. Horrible and wonderful.

Afterward, I was wild for Rickman and made a point to see whatever he was in. Yes, even Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood. Rickman played the Sheriff of Nottingham and COMPLETELY stole the show. Dude had THE best lines!

[the Sheriff has said he'll cut out Robin Hood's heart with a spoon]
Guy of Gisborne: Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?
Sheriff of Nottingham: Because it's DULL, you twit. It'll hurt more.
~~~
Sheriff of Nottingham: Wait a minute. Robin Hood steals money from my pocket, forcing me to hurt the public, and they love him for it?
[Scribe nods]
Sheriff of Nottingham: That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas.
~~~
Sheriff of Nottingham: [to a wench] You. My room. 10:30 tonight.
Sheriff of Nottingham: [to another wench] You. 10:45... And bring a friend.

Ah christ, and then there was Galaxy Quest. He was totally my fav character. By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged. Yes, yez, I feel an Alan Rickman marathon coming on.

Bowie and Rickman—I didn't know either one personally yet they both, in different ways, smoothed my bumpy ride.