Truth is singular. Its versions are mistruths.

The above words are spoken by the character Sonmi-451, played by Bae Doo-na (a.k.a. Doona Bae), in the film Cloud Atlas which I went to see at the Odeon on Lothian Road last night (after another excellent meal at

El Quijote).  I have to say I find those words a challenge to those of us whose hobby it is to write versions of the truth.  What, for example, should I do if I want to use a photograph to illustrate something I write and the scene depicted could be taken as the inspiration for the for the piece, but wasn't?  Am I being dishonest?  At the very least, it will make me try to remember to tag posts "fiction" and "non-fiction" where there might be any doubt.

Cloud Atlas is directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis, best known for, respectively: Run Lola Run and: The Matrix trilogy, so I suppose I should have been forewarned, but, not having read the book - or much about the film - initially I found the structure puzzling.

All soon became apparent however, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the film.  Okay, it wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, but I'm still surprised we didn't see more of it during the awards season.

I didn't think there were any weaknesses amongst the ensemble cast, with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry especially showing why they are paid the big bucks.  The stand-out performance for me though was that of Jim Broadbent; from Percy the Park Keeper, through WS Gilbert, Harold Zidler, and John Bayley, to his multiple roles in Cloud Atlas, he is always such good value!

As well as spotting the Edinburgh locations (such as the Scott Monument - a.k.a. Thunderbird 3 - pictured above), it was amusing to see the Clackmannanshire Bridge featuring as the Swannekke Bridge, and the mean streets of Glasgow standing in for the mean streets of Buenas Yerbas.  It was also interesting to see the Serra de Tramuntana doubling for Big I' and Port de Sóller transformed into 19th century San Francisco.  More versions of the truth: such is the magic of film.

To love another person is to see the face of God

No poetry from me again today, just a small appreciation of a movie, the cinema in which I watched it, and a great little restaurant.

My wife had decided that on her birthday she would like to see a movie and go out for a meal.  She is proud to share her birthday with President Lincoln (and Charles Darwin), so Lincoln was the obvious choice.  Even though I had already been to see it with the older of my two sons, I was happy to see it again, but she said "no" we would go to see Les Misérables on our date-night.

Now whilst I had enjoyed Les Misérables on stage, I wasn't overly looking forward to the film.  A few days earlier, I had heard, on the radio, an extract from the film of Anne Hathaway singing I Dreamed A Dream, and I have to say I was less than impressed...

But then we went to see the film, and how wrong could I have been?  It was amazing.  What I had failed to take into account when listening to the radio, was that I was not listening to a studio recording, optimised for radio or for CD, nor was I listening to theatre production by someone who was first and foremost a musical theatre star, I was listening to a live, on-set recording of the song, interpreted, by someone best-known as an actress, to compliment the mise-en-scène (Now there is a phrase I thought I would never use!  Pretentious?  Moi?).

Though I was impressed by the cast in general, and, in context, thoroughly enjoyed Ann Hathaway's singing, of those cast members not known as singers, the one that most impressed me was Russell Crowe.  Given some of the comments I had read about Mr Crowe's singing elsewhere on the Interweb, I guess that was a salutary reminder to experience things for yourself, make up your own mind about things, and not worry about what everyone else (or the odd pundit with access to the media) thinks.

It is interesting to note some of the other people who might have appeared in the film: Scarlett Johansson, Hayden Panettiere, Evan Rachel Wood, Lea Michele, and Taylor Swift are all alleged to have auditioned for the role of Eponine alone.  I cannot begin to imagine Taylor Swift taking on the role of Eponine, but I am immensely curious as to what Lea Michele would have done with it had she been selected.  She has after all sung the role before (in Les Misérables in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl) and her first Broadway role was as Young Cosette.  That however takes nothing away from my appreciation of Samantha Barks performance which was excellent.

In fact, my only disquiet with any aspect of the film was with the lengths to which Ann Hathaway appeared to have gone to immerse herself in the role.  I was reminded of Sir Laurence Olivier's comment to Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man: "Dear boy, you look absolutely awful.  Why don't you try acting?  It's so much easier."  (Hoffman has always maintained he was out partying at Studio 54 to take his mind off the failure of his first marriage, rather than just staying awake for days on end to get into character, but it's a good story anyway).

Suffice to say I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and at the end, though it may seem an odd reaction for a pair of dyed-in-the-wool atheists, I have to admit I squeezed her hand a little tighter when Hugh Jackman, as Jean Valjean, sings the beautiful words of Victor Hugo that entitle this posting.

Some research (okay, five minutes in Google) actually shows Hugo to be an incredibly quotable writer: change the pronouns and "He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two." could easily have been written about my wife and "The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." neatly encapsulates how she makes me feel about myself.