Truly Madly Deeply

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Writer and first-time director Anthony Minghella lays on the whimsy a bit thick at times, but his wryly funny and heartfelt observations on sorrow go down much easier than the Hollywood brand of lump-in-the-throat histrionics.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie is basically a piece of fluff, not always coherently directed and almost too consistently somber for a movie that wants to be a romantic comedy. Still, it comes together with considerable emotional impact, mainly on the strength of the stars. [24 May 1991, p.14]

Variety Justin Chang

This sharply scripted study of a bereaved woman who literally wishes her partner back from the grave is an impressive directorial bow by British playwright Anthony Minghella. Despite surface similarities with Ghost pic has a different feel and theme.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If the relatively prosaic Minghella, making his movie debut, lacks the suggestive poetic sensibility of Lewton, he does a fine job in capturing the contemporary everyday textures of London life, and coaxes a strong performance out of Stevenson, a longtime collaborator. Full of richly realized secondary characters and witty oddball details, this is a beguiling film in more ways than one.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This is a wonderful, disarming film, sort of like Ghost, but with all the Hollywood drained from it, leaving nothing on screen but the truth of the matter. Which is the way it should be, of course.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Truly, Madly, Deeply, a truly odd film, maddening, occasionally deeply moving.

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Labelled by many critics as a "thinking person's Ghost," Truly, Madly, Deeply is sensitively written and charmingly acted. Juliet Stevenson brings tremendous depth to a role that was created specifically for her, and Alan Rickman proves himself capable of something quite different from the bad-guy roles for which he's best known.

Christian Science Monitor M.S. Mason

Truly, Madly, Deeply takes on grief. It is a hard picture to watch at times, because the grieving protagonist is so convincing.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

There's enchanting delicacy and irresistible quirkiness in Anthony Minghella's allegory of grief. And humane comedy, too, in this fable about a woman flattened by inconsolable loss, then rejoining the world. [24 May 1991]

Los Angeles Times Peter Rainer

The point of this film seems to be that wholesomeness is a sign of maturity, and it partially cancels out the performers. Juliet Stevenson breaks through anyway. She has a charged core, like Judy Davis, and she makes you root for her passage to happiness. [8 May 1991, p.6]

Washington Post Desson Howe

In Truly, Madly, Deeply comparisons with "Ghost" are inevitable. But this British production, starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman, takes a wide berth around the kind of button-pushing found in "Ghost." It presses with lighter fingers.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Truly Madly Deeply is a truly, madly, deeply romantic film, and Stevenson and Rickman have a natural rapport. What distinguishes the film more than that is the uncommon intelligence with which Minghella approaches this fanciful situation.

San Francisco Chronicle Judy Stone

This latest visitation from heaven, written and directed by Anthony Minghella, isn't as sappy, slick or saccharine as "Ghost" - thanks largely to the pert performance of Stevenson and the irascible character displayed by Rickman. [24 May 1991, p.E8]

Empire William Thomas

A divisive film - too overwrought for some, perfectly emotionally pitched for others - how much it will appeal will depend on how romantically inclined the viewer is feeling.

Chicago Tribune Clifford Terry

Truly, Madly, Deeply, which takes on bereavement and regeneration, uneasily straddles the delicate line between the charming and the cloying. [24 May 1991, p.L]

The New York Times Vincent Canby

Truly, Madly, Deeply should be enchanting, but it isn't. Everyone pushes too hard, especially Mr. Minghella, the writer and director. There are a few amusing lines and a lot of terrible ones, including Nina's overwrought response, early in the film, when her sister wants to borrow Jamie's cello: "It's like asking me to give you his body!"