Yes (2004/I)

Director:

Sally Potter

Writer:

Sally Potter (written by)

Release Date:

5 August 2005 (Turkey)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

In this film, told almost entirely in iambic pentameter, She is a scientist in a loveless marriage to Anthony...

Plot Keywords:

Beach | Scientist | Blues Music | Cook | Swimming Pool

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Shirley Henderson	...	Cleaner
Joan Allen	...	She
Sam Neill	...	Anthony
Simon Abkarian	...	He
Wil Johnson	...	Virgil
Gary Lewis	...	Billy
Raymond Waring	...	Whizzer
Stephanie Leonidas	...	Grace
Barbara Oxley	...	Cleaner in Swimming Pool
Samantha Bond	...	Kate
Kev Orkian	...	Waiter
George Yiasoumi	...	Kitchen Boss
Beryl Scott	...	Cleaner in Laboratory
Sheila Hancock	...	Aunt
Lol Coxhill	...	Father Christmas

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

100 min | Argentina:100 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cuba

Company:

Adventure Pictures

Trivia:

The whole of the film's dialog is spoken in verse.

Goofs:

Continuity: As "He" is chopping celery and talking to his crew, the knife in his hands changes from shot to shot. One shot has pieces of celery stuck to the knife while the other shows a clean blade.

Quotes:

Aunt: [thinking] Communism died, but what came in its place? A load of greed. A life spent longing for things you don't need!

Soundtrack:

Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor

A solid 10... must see

A long commentary could readily been written to adumbrate the following remark, but this would almost seem to be redundant.

This was a remarkable, even beautiful, drama composed in the authentic voices of enchanting, sometimes witty, verse, verse whose theatrical power consistently grows during the film in proportion to its philosophical sophistication. From its opening to its closing "chorus" expressed in the person of a humble housekeeper, this film offers the story of an arduous love between an unCatholic American woman, a castaway in her hopeless marriage, and her Moslem Lebanese suitor, "stranded" as an existential alien in America. The story ascends to sometimes Shakespearean levels of character development and twisting plot as the lovers evolve, a tale bearing the wounds of a tumultuous, irresistible personal struggle that is fraught with profound moral and psychological ambiguities, all within a post-modern social and political context that enmeshes and deepens the nature of shifting meanings expressed in human bonds and bondage.

Says the voice of the housekeeper/chorus, in the final crucible of perilous affirmation--

"In fact, I think I guess that

No does not exist, But only Yes."

Joan Allen's career reaches its pinnacle here, giving us the brilliant actress at her best.