Imagine Me & You

Well, the promised DVD did come. The movie was Imagine Me & You a low budget british movie by a first time director. It's a rom com involving the tangled lives of some thirty-somethings living in the Primrose Hill area of London. In essence Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Hec (Matthew Goode) are getting married. On their wedding day Rachel catches a glimse of someone else and falls instantly in love. The film charts what follows from there.

The twist is that the person she falls in love with is Luce (Lena Headey) the lesbian florist who did the flowers for their wedding. I found this something of a problem I must admit in that I really didn't believe in the basic premise of the film. I don't think it works like that. Love at first sight is an unlikely thing to happen literally on the way to the altar anyway, but for it to be with a woman when you've previously been happily heterosexual seems ... implausible.

But put that to one side and it works quite well. The cast do their stuff. Piper Perabo is a bit weak but Matthew Goode is particularly fine as a young city whizz kid who is really finding it hard to be as sneaky as his boss requires. Lena does a good job at portraying the angst of trying to avoid getting involved with a married woman and there's some nice performances from the supporting actors and overall it works pretty well and it made me laugh and cry at the right moments. Oh, and there's some lovely shots of Primrose Hill too.

The director's commentary is worth a listen, not least for his admission of heavy use of ecstasy (is that wise?) but mainly for his discussion of the technicalities of making a movie.

It's out on DVD in the States now (so you'll need a Region 1 DVD player) but Mark Kermode reviewed it on BBC Radio Five Live last week (he didn't like it) so I guess that means it's out in cinemas in the UK any time now.