Mariam Bayat A beautiful tale of two long lost lovers that doesn't fail to lift your spirit. Despite only being a short film I enjoyed it very much. Perfectly assembled with great cinematography which compliments the original poem greatly. The melancholy and passion between the protagonists were definitely sustained through out the film steering it away from titles bearing names such as Depressing-love-story-for-the-over-40s or a Horny- middle-aged-people-have-a-rendez-vous. No better actors could have been picked for this. A brilliant performance on behalf of both Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson who portray the characters exact to how I had imagined them to be. All in all 'tis a great film. However, I advise people to read the book first before watching the film.

kamuijjang88 It hasn't come to my knowledge yet that this short movie is acted out of a poem, and I have no interest in contemporary poems to go take a peek in the book. But I gotta say, I've read a lot of negative reviews here and I wonder why. But art is controversial, that's for sure.This piece of work is beautiful, peaceful in a sense, and has a lot of emotion. Which is something mainstream movies nowadays are not aiming at anymore. Just old people back flashed their old lives. Just an old man being nostalgic in an old place and haven't been able to move on since he lost the love of his life. Now that's an POV because from her point of view maybe the story will be totally reversed and he will appeared as an arse, which I don't really care. Some has mentioned how the feeling is so horrible it almost haunted me, I was so scared when I was watching him getting drunk and I know almost right away what's gonna happen. Just old and typical stuff, nothing new, so true, so real. And people move on like that. But I understand the feeling constantly, even though I'm not that old, but that feeling of loss I do bring. I have watched this and then listened to it again and it made me feel very, very bitter hearing Alan's voice telling the story and I feel very bad. This could be you, this could be me, this could be anyone, and I know this has happened, is happening, and will happen to lots of people out there. I don't know what art is supposed to mean, I think Frankfurt intellectuals might have more saying in this than me, for they spent a certain amount of time to argue whether or not art is supposed to enhance the creation of the elitist or art is for the majority of people. Or they would be arguing the same thing, art for the sake of art or art for the sake of humanity.

[email protected] The title of this review just about says it all. Except, of course, that the two former lovers are portrayed by Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, who could probably do a satisfying reading of the telephone book. Except that Rickman's character gets drunk and disappears to take a nap on the roof, there isn't much action in this film. The drama lies entirely in the subtle (and not so subtle) interactions of He and She. He appears to be a disappointed academic who would like to rekindle his relationship with She. She is cool, sophisticated, cautious and soon repelled by He's behavior. (Eventually She pays the bill and leaves. ( He, having awakened from his nap finds the table empty.) Not much of a plot to be sure, and the dialog is nothing special. But it is ever a pleasure to watch Thompson and Rickman in action and they inhabit their roles with characteristic conviction. The viewer learns a lot about He and She, not so much from what is said or done, but from how the two actors play off one another.

mflint22 Returning from New York City where I had so much enjoyed Alan Rickman and four wonderful young actors in the play "Seminar" at the Golden Theater, I was excited to watch "The Song of Lunch" last night.In addition I am a big fan of Emma Thompson, and of the films "Truly, Madly Deeply" and "Sense and Sensibility," films in which she and Alan Rickman perform so brilliantly together. So it was with high expectations that I sat down to watch "Lunch."The acting was indeed impeccable and I would have enjoyed the cinematography, sets and costumes …had the language not been so deeply disappointing. This writing might have been forgiven only if coming from a seventeen year old, or offered as an ironic send-up of poetic idiom. Over written, pretentious and predictable, as 'profusionk' suggests above, writing such as this gives poetry a bad name. I am surprised that BBC drama chose to dramatize this script. Sorry to be so harsh…but