Thank God He Met Lizzie

Guy (Richard Roxborough), an awkward 30-something Sydney-sider is looking for love in all the wrong places. All he wants out of life is to settle down with his dream girl, but finding her is becoming harder by the day. Hard that is until, pregnant cat in hand, he meets Lizzie (Cate Blanchett), a 30-something (yay!), and more importantly single (double yay!!), doctor. The pair immediately fall for each other and after a six-week whirlwind romance, they find themselves joined at the altar (a relatively painless operation). Hitched and whisked off in a limo, the pair quickly arrive at the reception; an affair orchestrated with military precision by Lizzie’s over-zealous mother to whom keeping-up appearances in Sydney society is as important as the nuptials themselves.

Overwhelmed by the formality, the overbearing immovability of it all, Guy begins to recollect his only other serious relationship – a long term affair with a bubbly research assistant Jenny (Francis O’Connor). Faced with the realisation that Lizzie is only marrying out of desperation, and that after six-weeks he doesn’t know a thing about his new wife, it dawns on Guy that he forsook his true chance at happiness long ago…

"The trouble with happiness is, you don’t know when you have it…"

A contemporary Bittersweet story about love lost, emotional desperation and resignation, Thank God He Met Lizzie is a funny and poignant film about modern relationships. Exploring the increasingly prevalent notion that the significant relationship many people have in their twenties is not the relationship many end up keeping committing to in their 30s - the one that sees them settle down and raise a family - the film captures what has become a seminal modern emotional experience. Watching his former, loving relationship degenerate into apathy, we really feel for Guy - a modern man who has effectively lost control of his life and is slowly realising that his one true chance at happiness has slipped through his fingers. It’s a great premise for a film and with a cast as stellar as that assembled for Thank God He Met Lizzie it just couldn’t have gone wrong. Richard Roxborough turns in a great performance as the slightly awkward, very anally retentive Guy; subtly selling his sensitivity, his exuberance, and his eventual painful realisation. Cate Blanchett is also superb (no surprises there) as the slightly formal, slightly closed-off bride. But it is Francis O’Connor, at this stage a relative newcomer to the screen, who truly shines; her portrayal of the warm, bubbly, and eventually heart-broken Jenny that gives the film its heart and soul. I don’t know about the ladies, but as a male viewer I fell in love with Jenny along with Guy, and would have kicked him if I could, as he allowed this wonderful woman to slip from his life. Still, Guy’s departure definitely leaves an opening for someone else. I’m here Jenny - when you’re ready to date again.

An anamorphic image at the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1, Magna’s digital transfer of Thank God He Met Lizzie is far from perfect. On the positive side, colour is well balanced; swapping continually between the stark creams of the wedding and the earthy tones and rich reds of Guy and Jenny’s old apartment. Skin tones are natural and black level is good. The source material, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Displaying a distracting level of grain for the duration of the film, sharpness is effectively reduced and much of the fine-detail inherent in the locations, costumes and even the faces of the performers, is hidden from view. This grain is joined by a full compliment of end-of-reel markers and a light dusting of film artefacts. In terms of compression artefacts, the story is much better, with no relics of the compression process being introduced by the team at Magna.

Provided with a simple Dolby Digital stereo mix, the soundtrack for Thank God He Met Lizzie is a serviceable yet lacklustre affair. Primarily a dialogue-driven film, much of the sound remains in the centre channel throughout, expanding to the front channels to convey the soundtrack (it was great to hear Howard Jones’ Like To Get to Know You Well) as well as the ambience of some of the more noisy locations such as the wedding and the various parties and pickup joints Guy frequents in his search for love. Unfortunately, although my trusty Prologic decoder routed a little of the music to the surround channel, neither the rear speakers nor the subwoofer see much action for the duration.

Static, anamorphic menus provide access to a small number of extras that may be of some interest to fans of the film. Two inclusions in particular stand-out. The first is a set of production notes – ten pages of text that give some good insights into the way the film was structured, the production design and what director Nowlan was trying to convey. The second is the cast and crew, which provides comprehensive information about the careers of the three leads as well as Nowlan, DOP Kathryn Millis, and producer Jonathon Shteinman. Annotating each bio is a set of interesting interview snippets with each covering a wide range of topics. Well worth a look. Lastly, and largely forgettable, a B-roll provides five clips totaling only two and a half minutes that show some people operating cameras. Certainly not worth the time taken to operate the remote.

Going into Thank God He Met Lizzie with little or no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by this typically Australian, yet moving and thought provoking romantic comedy. With a leading cast of such calibre, ably supported by the obligatory group of Aussie oddballs, it provides a balanced combination of light distraction and cold emotional reality. You may well find it in the bargain bin here and there, and I certainly recommend you check it out.