Patrick and Astrid are vacationing and putting together a wedding abroad in Italy at his family’s lemon plantation. His father, Philip, is a widower who pretty much keeps to himself and never lets anyone get too close to him. Astrid’s parents Ida and Leif live in Denmark and Ida is in remission after just ending a successful bout with breast cancer. After returning home from getting the news from her doctor, she finds her husband having sex on the couch with his secretary and leaves him. Preoccupied by all of the things happening around her, she accidentally collides with Philip’s car in the airport parking garage. Because they’re both going to the wedding, it so happens they end up traveling to Italy together.
“Love is all you need” is a Danish film that in its native language is titled “Den skaldede frisør”or “The Bald Hairdresser.” The movie stars Pierce Brosnan as Philip, Trine Dyrholm as Ida, Kim Bodnia as Leif, Sebastian Jessen as Patrick, Molly Blixt Egelind as Astrid and its directed by Susanne Bier. The movie is a delightful romantic comedy which ended up having a sad but still a charming love story. The acting is very good and Pierce Brosnan played the stern businessman character perfectly. Unfortunately, I had a few issues with the overall movie. The biggest issue I had with it is that I don’t speak nor understand Danish or French. Now, I understand the audio track I selected is the Danish track but at any given time there is Danish, English, French and Italian spoken in conversations. There are subtitles but it made the characters tough to place where they came from when they’re introduced as being from country A but they speak the language from country B. I know it’s a nit picky but I made it difficult to follow at times.
The blu-ray’s 1080p AVC transfer is absolutely superb. It’s one of the cleanest transfers I’ve seen in a while. The colors are strikingly brilliant in each setting through the film. For example on the plantation while in Italy, the green foliage with the bright yellow lemons is simply radiant. Also, the interiors of the villa have pastel colors with rich hues that look amazing on film. There was even no black crushing I could find in the lower lit scenes. Overall, I was incredibly impressed.
The film’s audio track I used to view the movie is the Danish DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix and the sound is great. There isn’t really much variety in the way of the soundtrack or the score but the music has a definite prescience. The segments are also loud but not overdriven. The music is also well balanced with the dialogue and that’s always a positive in my book. Being that the majority of the film is set outdoors, there is an abundance of ambient sounds whether in the grove or the patio which overlooks the seaside. The track is clean but there isn’t really much in the way of bass and the sound seems like it’s mostly highs. That’s the only issue with the audio but it’s something that does takeaway from the experience.
The supplements are good from the release but they do get a little redundant. The actors are asked similar questions at each festival but also everyone gives the same answers to every interviewer.
Supplements
-Commentary with Pierce Brosnan and Director Susanne Bier- this is an audio commentary with actor Pierce Brosnan and the talented director Susanne Bier.
-Q&A with Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Susanne Bier, and Anders Thomas Jenson- after the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, the actors with the writer and the director answers some of the audience’s questions.
– Behind the Scenes with Trine Dyrholm from the Venice Film Festival- a recap of a crew memebers experiences with the actress.
-An Interview with Pierce Brosnan and Trine Dyrholm from the Venice Film Festival- an interview with the actors while at the festival.
-Pierce Brosnan Interview from the Venice Film Festival- this is a solo interview with Brosnan from the festival.
-Theatrical Trailer- an HD theatrical trailer of the film
-Previews
Edition Ratings
Rated R
Disc Details
1 Single Blu-ray Disc
Playback
Region A
Video Resolution
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
Danish DTS-HD MA 5.1
French (Parisian) DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
English
English SDH
French
This is a really touching story and an exquisite blu-ray. The story, directing and acting were well done with everyone playing believable roles. The extras are a little repetitive but you don’t need too much from a film in this genre because the movies speaks for itself. As I said, the languages did make it a little hard to keep track of the characters but once it eventually leveled out with only 2 languages, I could follow it better. I would recommend watching the film because there are too many positive qualities to miss it.
