Simply A Masterpiece

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

All of the above reviews offer an insight I can understand. I wish to add that this is so very rare a film, for me, because there is romance, in the sense that one can feel real chemistry between these two great performers. There is the real feeling of the possibility of desire, of a physical attraction that emerges, unexpectedly, really, between elderly people.This possible couple had grace, charm, and, delightfully, both became more desirable as one watched. The film had credibility, warmth, charm, and an ending that can best be understood by those who have lived a little.

Of all the holidays in the year that is seriously celebrated in the United States and Canada, likely Christmas is the most family orientated, especially in Canada.Widows, widowers, students, those without any family, can have a pretty miserable December -- especially if they've had closeness in the past.Jason Robarts, always gritty, usually charming, sometimes humorous and dryly witty, plays a retired architect (John Tanner) who has lost his wife just 10 months ago. He wants to celebrate his traditional Christmas: i.e. by going up to a remote cabin with his son and later on his daughter in law and grandchildren children along with his deceased wife. This year, since there was only Robarts, his family tries to persuade him to come to them. He does not like the idea: he wants the cabin, snow and what he has always done.He goes to a dating agency and explains what he wants: One thing is certain, he does not want sex. The agency owner agrees to set up a Christmas weekend with a woman – the only one available, he claims.That is how, on Christmas Eve, after meeting her at a city transit turnaround, he takes Iris (Julie Harris) to his cabin. She sets the condition on the weekend that he must ask her no personal questions of her.What follows is a series of scenes that documents John Tanner's loneliness, his charm, and his real need to fill some hollowness left by the death of his wife. It makes Iris very uncomfortable. She is likely uncomfortable with the opulence, with his charm, with his total dedication to his memories of what he had. She senses the deep love she and his wife shared, and it makes her feel like a stranger in a house haunted by his memories.She is also made very uncomfortable by the fact that until the end he has made no play for anything more than the weekend, he desperately wants what he had. Many people who lose a mate and had successful marriages seek what they had in someone else.Her reasons for that latter discomfort and the explanation of why she will permit no personal questions constitute a spoiler, and so will not be pursued here.This movie addresses a largely unaddressed problem at Christmas time. It addresses how lonely people can be. It addresses common decency. It looks at those who were so much in love over a long period of time that they were not afraid to share their qualities with someone else. It is not about redemption as in Scrooge. It is not about unique human value as in It's a Wonderful Life. It is just about the best that ordinary humans have to offer one another. It is easily worth marks above 8.

I really liked this movie. Who was this woman? Why was she here? All questions are answered, but the answer may surprise you. This is an easy movie to watch, no foul language, no violence or explicit sexual content. If you're looking for something fast paced rock-em-sock em,this is not your movie....but for a wholesome, a bit intelligent movie, you can't beat it. The main actress has been on other movies from the 50s to the 90s, maybe more recently I don't know. I've seen her in East of Eden and The Christmas Tree.The main character, the male actor, had a problem, an event in his like that had been causing him pain. He expected this encounter to solve it, which it did, but in a way he did not expect. Neither will you. See it. ITs good

I saw this movie 2 days before Jason Robards' death. He is such a fine actor, I will miss him. --- The movie is about a widower who doesn't want to spend Christmas alone. He contacts an agency to set him up with a woman who is also in need of company. The drama unfolds as the two spend the holiday together. Very touching, heartfelt movie.