bandw This movie tells the same story from the viewpoint of three different people. The stories are presented in sequence and cover the same time span - the three characters are together in the first scene as well as several days later in the final scene. The event that brings them together in the first scene is the funeral reception for a man who was the brother-in-law of Dan (Bill Nighy), the lover of Nick (Tom Hollander), and the cousin and friend of Tim (Douglas Henshall). The plot structure is clever and works well. One of the challenges in telling a story in this manner that is effectively dealt with is to strike a balance in how much the characters interact - too little and the movie becomes three separate stories; too much and all the characters, as well as the viewers, know the whole story and there are no surprises. This plot structure is distinctly different from those of "Rashomon," where each character relates the same story with personal embellishments, or "Pulp Fiction," where the stories are only loosely intersecting and the time sequencing is not linear, or movies like "Lantana," which effectively utilizes flashbacks and interactions in real time among an ensemble of unrelated characters.With each succeeding scene in each story we fill in pieces of the puzzle. The curious way people behave in one story is understood in a later story. For example, when Tim throws a party and invites a woman with whom he has just been enamored, she shows up only to hide behind a wall and ultimately escape the party by climbing over a fence. Tim is hard pressed to interpret this peculiar behavior and Dan, who witnesses the escape from outside the house, is mystified. How odd we think, but later we learn that a recent ex-lover of hers is there and she does not want an encounter with him. We are made to think about how each of us sees only a small piece of the big picture. Each personal human encounter is the intersection of two worlds, the complex histories of which are fully known only by the individuals. People behave in ways that we find difficult to comprehend, but, in almost all situations, if we were to know the personal motivations and the full story, all would be understood. To a great extent, the dialog carries the movie. When Dan is approached by an interested woman, Corrine, at the funeral reception and she asks him if he is depressed, he says, "How would I know?"While the movie hangs together on first viewing, I found a second viewing to be rewarding. You pick up on a lot of things that would easily be missed on first viewing, like when Corrine invites Dan to dinner while checking out at the grocery store the cashier is a woman with whom Nick becomes involved.The acting is polished and the multitude of songs on the soundtrack seem to have been chosen with care and they augment the story. It was uncharitable not to credit the Schubert piano trio that so effectively set the mood at the beginning and the end (Trio in E flat, Op. 100 D.929).Altogether an engaging and skillful piece of film-making.

Roland E. Zwick `Lawless Heart' feels a bit like a confused mess at the start – until you realize that it is telling the same story from the perspective of three different characters. When the elements begin to fall into place, the film becomes a touching human drama about exactly what the title implies – the inability to make the heart do what one wants it to do.Written and directed by Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter, the film begins at the funeral of a gay man named Stuart who drowned a few days earlier in a boating accident. The story focuses on three of the people closest to him: Nick, Stuart's lover; Dan, Stuart's brother-in-law; and Tim, an old friend of Stuart's who's been off trying to make a success of himself and not doing a very good job of it. Rather than relate the tale in a straightforward, linear fashion, the filmmakers have chosen to employ a multi-level narrative structure, showing us events first from the perspective of one character, then backing up time and showing us them again from the perspective of another. Although the technique is often more distracting and gimmicky than illuminating, the film ultimately becomes a moving study of loss, jealousy, confusion and passion, with each of the film's many characters (not just the three listed) making a memorable mark on our hearts. The movie is helped immeasurably by its highly gifted cast, its complex interplay of character and time, and its understanding that the one thing we can't control is who we care for and who we love. The maturity of the film is evidenced in the fact that each of the characters comes to learn that he must temper his passions if he hopes to get through life with his sense of morality and decency - and his self-respect - intact. Well written and acted, `Lawless Heart' is a quiet, unassuming film that has some important things to say about The Big Three: life, death and love.

jamiebolt a film about the truth of life - at first I thought it was boring because I am so conditioned by Hollywood etc. even British films that have wowed in the past five years are shown to have a certain fakeness by this one. Enjoy. I think it would make my perfect date movie.

drjabeles a terrificly acted and constructed ensemble piece... wittily developed musical themes of pulsating rhythms from Schubert to disco matches the frequent rhythms of the not infrequent "bonking" scenes... also the characters falling in love with each other are all derived from different classes or social groups with their class-identifying accents, with different levels of social and sexual repressions or freedoms, but in the end all with very human needs for contact and closeness...