BBC2: The Song Of Lunch - Starring Alan Rickman...

As Alan Rickman entered the restaurant for the first time in years, he realised not only had its original owner, Massimo, left the place, but all the staff had changed. All the heart of the place had died for him. I've been in restaurants like that when they change completely and, after one visit, you never return.

It made for a perfect example of being one of those times in life when you want to recapture the past, but you just can't. It's gone. Never to return. Much like the fact he was meeting up with Emma Thompson again.

As he left, he spotted Massimo in the corner, so it bookended the piece.
 
It was great. The BBC should do more of this. After a thoroughly depressing week I was in a foul mood, and this (perhaps bizarrely) perked me up. I think I got some joy from the fact that we are still capable of producing literary works like this, and televising them without losing any of the impact.

ReminRAB me of my old arthouse days, and makes me want to rekindle some form of art appreciation.
 
Oh loved this programme. Some may say it was high brow and pretentious but I disagree. It was very cleverly done. I thought the poetry was relevant and modern

Hasn't Alan Rickman got better with age? Emma for that matter too!

Let's hope David Tennant's single father is as good
 
Not something I would usually watch but I saw Emma on This Morning and decided to give it ago. I fount it hard to follow and understand in parts but it managed to hold my attention for the full 50 minutes. I'll have to give it another watch to help me understand it better as my family came home half way through making a racke for about 10 minutes, with my dad demanding the remote. It's kind of inspired me to have ago writing my own similar narrative. One drama ticked off from the Winter / Spring BBC trailer, with Single Father on Sunday.
 
I, too enjoyed this drama very much, for a variety of reasons: that it was so 'different' as someone on here has already said; also that it was cleverly done, and while the poetry wasn't very deep, it flowed well. Also 'cos I love everything that Alan Rickman has ever done acting wise. And his velvet voice and his looks and charisma that oozes out of him in bucket loaRAB... I had better stop there before I get too carried away. :p

What we need now is more Alan Rickman on our TV screens then I'll be very happy indeed. :D
 
Thank you so much.

I see. So when he spoke of Massimo being dried parchment which would crumble if touched - he was refering to revisiting the past.

Well, sometimes it's fun. Sad fun, but still fun.
 
I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. The first 10 minutes were promising, and I did enjoy the camera detail (shots of hanRAB touching, glass being covered etc), but once Rickman's character started getting drunk, he became one-dimentional. Typical boozy letch trying to revisit "happier times". He didn't have any redeeming factors, and I had no sympathy that Thompson's character had found someone better to have long-term happiness with.

I so wanted to enjoy this, and hoped to feel the characters a bit deeper, but Thompson didn't seem nearly as irritated as she should have been (15 years apart and he snaps at her within minutes of meeting?? Why didn't she walk out right then??) and Rickman's drunk had no redeeming qualities.

Having said all that, I do wish we had more of this type of thing on TV. A bad "art" piece is far better than most mass-market pap produced for the sheeple.
 
Save your pity for someone who neeRAB it.

I didn't enjoy the story, and explained why. I am allowed to express my opinion, even if that differs from yours.
 
Do you know how silly that statement makes you sound?

It's not as if r.a.i.n.b.o.w. just said "hated it. How dare the BBC waste our money on this. Complaining to OFCOM". He/she watched the programme, didn't enjoy it as much as expected, and then explained why!

I enjoyed the programme a lot, but it wasn't quite what I expected either.

And just as a side point, is it not a bit rich of you to accuse somebody of failing to understand "the deeper meaning of the piece" when you had to ask for somebody to explain the ending to you? That's only a tongue in cheek comment as I'm sure you only needed the ending explaining because you missed a bit for whatever reason, but it was too good an opportunity for forum banter to pass up :D
 
Only just got round to watching this on Sky+.

Beautifully written and acted.
Lovely to listen to such delightful use of language.

Was slightly knocked back near the start when I was convinced that "TS Eliot" that Alan Rickman bumped into was played by Woody Allen!
It wasn't, but I had to rewatch later to make sure...
 
People who didn't enjoy this seem to have the similar opinion of not caring about the characters or it being predictable which I can understand. But I think the piece is more about lost hope and regret than wanting the audience to sympathise with the couple in this situation, hence the significiance of them being nameless.

Watching Rickman perving on a young woman, taking a pee and trying to control his manhood - some things I never expected to witness lol. I personally loved the scenes with the descriptive parts of the poem and simple images that complimented them. It was a great reminder of how the English language can be very beautiful. Overall, it was refreshing to see something that engaged the viewers without being controversial, highly emotional nor requiring action every few minutes.

On a side note, I do wish Alan Rickman would do more audiobooks, he has such a talent for reading! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbI-6R-bgjU
 
Where the sumptious widescreen visuals will be destroyed by someone doing youknowwhat, and the screen zooming out when no-one's speaking and shoving back into the corner when the dialogue begins again. :mad:
 
I don't think Rickman's character was a bad man of any description, I think he had just lost his way in life and was hoping for a chance to recapture a great time from the past - who in their 30s and older HASN'T ever thought of that?



I don't think you got it. He was clearly bitter that she had everything whereas he had gone to seed and was going nowhere.
 
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