''It's All About Love'' is a 2003 English-language Danish

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film written and directed by

Thomas Vinterberg Thomas Vinterberg (; born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the films ''The Celeb ...

. Its narrative can be classified as apocalyptic science fiction, but Vinterberg prefers to call it "a dream". Unlike the director's earlier Danish-language films, ''It's All About Love'' is entirely in English and stars

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, '' Time'' named her one of the 100 most influenti ...

and

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

. The production was led by Denmark's

Nimbus Film Nimbus Film is Denmark's third largest film production company. Nimbus Film has to date produced more than 30 feature films and many shorts and documentaries. Of their more known feature films are the Dogme 95 movies ''The Celebration'' (1998, ...

, but the film was largely an international co-production, with involvement of companies from nine different countries in total. It was very poorly received by film critics.

Plot

In the year 2021, when the earth is devastated by continuous climate changes, with sudden waves of frost (it snows in the middle of summer even in Venice), John, a university lecturer, traveling from Poland to Calgary, stops in New York, to sign divorce papers for his wife Elena. A much beloved figure skating champion, Elena is followed by a very large entourage that takes care of her numerous commitments and all external relations. John is detained one night in order to attend an important performance by Elena. Set to leave the next morning, he finds that not only has Elena not signed the divorce papers but, with very little explanation, she begs John for help. Still in love, indulges her. John discovers that Elena is the victim of a strange plot hatched by her own entourage. Three clones, perfectly identical to her, were made to replace her. The official explanation is to relieve her of the burden of an activity that is getting more difficult over time, but the fear is that once the clone training is over, the real Elena can be put aside. Amid escapes and returns, the killing of the clones, the betrayal of his own family members, John and Elena go away first by train then on foot towards a safe place to resume a new life together, but in the end, they face the cold storms that are ravaging much of the Earth, and die, embraced. The narration of the finale is entrusted to Marciello, John's brother, who in flight over the planet is one of the last survivors but is also destined to perish as it is not possible to land.

Cast

as John *

as Elena *

as Marciello *

Douglas Henshall Douglas “Dougie” James Henshall (born 19 November 1965) is a Scottish television, film and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Professor Nick Cutter in the science fiction series '' Primeval'' (2007–2011) and Detective Inspect ...

as Michael * Alun Armstrong as David * Margo Martindale as Betsy * Mark Strong as Arthur * Geoffrey Hutchings as Mr. Morrison

Production

The film was written, directed, and produced by

over a period of five years. It was produced through

. At a certain point during production Vinterberg called up

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoun ...

and asked him to come and help him finish the film, as he felt he could not complete it himself. Vinterberg recalled that: :He roared with laughter and said I had to be out of my mind. There was nothing he was less interested in. And he also said I was an idiot that had not decided fast enough what to do after ''

The Celebration ''The Celebration'' ( da, Festen) is a 1998 Danish dark comedy- drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and produced by Nimbus Film. The film tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday, juggling subjects o ...

(Festen)'', which he, by the way, called a masterpiece. It was a very contended conversation. (From an interview in

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' ...

Reception

The film was not very successful, and critics mostly panned it.Rotten Tomatoe
rating
14% positive. For individual reviews, see box on the right.

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

called the film "like

Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

with a talent-ectomy" and Jack Matthews of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

'' declared that "Surely, Vinterberg was high on some inert gas when he embarked on it". Dennis Lim of the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', however found something to like in the film: :''It's All About Love'' is, by any measure, a colossal folly – ridiculed at its

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pla ...

'03 premier, supposedly disowned by its stars (rumor has it Claire Danes burst into tears upon seeing the end result) and jettisoned by original distributor

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

. But this $10 million Danish-British-French-U.S.-Japanese-Swedish-Norwegian-German-Dutch co-production is a film maudit for the ages — rapturous and inexplicable in equal measure.

References

External links

* *
Director interview about film
* {{Thomas Vinterberg 2003 films 2000s science fiction drama films Danish science fiction drama films American romantic drama films Danish romantic drama films Danish thriller films 2003 romantic drama films Films set in 2021 Films set in the 2020s Films set in the United States Films shot in Denmark Films directed by Thomas Vinterberg Films scored by Zbigniew Preisner Films about cloning Nimbus Film films American dystopian films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films