Brilliant layered film. Love the cinematography and the score - so moving - this is a "cinematic' film - it takes you to another place. I love the moody setting. I read David Hare wanted to show how ordinary lives can have operatic emotions and he captures this with the score. Love the flashbacks and the way the puzzle and mystery slowly forms. All of the different themes and characters add up to a potent emotional cocktail and comment on life, growing up, growing old, dreams and expectations, the search for meaning in our lives. "A girl ran away today". 'Good luck to her". "Yes good luck". I love it when Vanessa Redgraves character feels as if the young guy's spirit is pulling her down and the detective tells her she needs to fight. It seems her broken heart and inner melancholy allowed her to connect to him and his sense of disillusionment with the modern world.