What is best about the film, however, is the quality of the performances that Mehta has stage-managed. Greenwood, in particular, resonates with a quiet dignity, and slight desperation, that signifies a man yearning for something that has eluded him for so long. He does this in the scenes with minimal dialogue, no mean feat.
He has found his match in Emilia Fox, an unconventional beauty with a similar penchant for saying more with the fewest words. So, when they actually do talk, offering little glimpses into their tortured psyches, a seemingly insignifcant conversation seems to take on a profound weight.
Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun 2/13/04
What we're left with in The Republic Of Love is a clutch of solid performances by good actors, who help make up for the shortcomings of the writing and directing. Particularly the good-natured Greenwood, who overcomes his unfair typecasting as a bad guy. Anyone who can make a Romeo out of a three-time marital failure with a bad case of premature infatuation obviously has more darts in his quiver than Cupid.
Peter Howell, The Globe & Mail2/13/04
Canadian expat Bruce Greenwood stars as Tom, a thrice-divorced radio personality who's just about given up on love when he falls hard for Faye..... Though cutesy supporting characters occasionally threaten to overshadow the dynamic duo, Greenwood has enough steamy presence (and perhaps enough clout as executive producer) to hold his own against the director's embellishments. Tom is not an especially sympathetic character, but Greenwood makes his ardour for Faye both convincing and even a little sad. It's a performance that towers over everything else in the film...
Kim Linkin, Toronto Eye 2/12/04
Bruce Greenwood is a very good romantic lead, all sympathy and sexy laugh lines
Alison Gillmore, Winnipeg Free Press 2/15/04
In the leads,
both Emilia Fox and Bruce Greenwood are terrifically engaging. They
definitely enhance the picture......
Rick Groen, Globe & Mail 9/11/03
Fine performances, especially by Greenwood, help disguise the fact that Mehta has caught little of Shields' humour and rich sense of irony.
Peter Howell, The Toronto Star 9/2/03
Another Canadian film getting the gala treatment is Deepa Mehta's The
Republic of Love, based on the late Carol Shields' novel about a
thrice-divorced disc jockey (Bruce Greenwood) who falls for a wary
art curator (The Pianist's Emilia Fox). Critics are..... crediting Greenwood's
good performance to the fact that he's executive producer
The Eye 8/28/03
Deepa Mehta follows up the joyous, carnivalesque Bollywood/Hollywood with a
beautiful film that looks at love in its many guises. Based on the renowned novel
by the late Carol Shields, The Republic of Love is Mehta's most assured film to
date. It touches on people's lives and loves as it skates between creating fairytale
romance -- and looking at the morning after. It is a compelling meditation brought
alive by superb performances from a hugely talented cast, including Bruce Greenwood,
Emilia Fox, Martha Henry, Edward Fox, Jackie Burroughs, Claire Bloom, Jan Rubes
and Gary Farmer.
Toronto International Film Festival 8/03
The charisma of the cast goes a long way to bring warmth to this story of winter love, and there's a believable magnetic charge between Bruce Greenwood as a thrice-married late-night deejay named Tom Avery, and British actress Emilia Fox, as a folklorist named Fay, who has impossibly high marital standards.....We meet these two attractive singles separately, and it takes a good third of the movie before they fall into love at first sight.
Liam Lacey, The Globe & Mail 2/13/04
Greenwood and Fox capture the giddiness of infatuation and it’s so refreshing to see that such feelings really do impact mature people.
Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Sun 2/13/04
Greenwood's greatest asset as an actor is that smooth voice of his, a nice fit with the role of a late-night DJ who muses about love, but the movie also tries to sex him up with lots of shirt-off shots that seem out of place, as does a comic one-night encounter with a toe fetishist he picks up at a singles meeting. Despite the awkward circumstances the movie places him in, Greenwood actually manages to make us believe in a modern romantic, a charmer who's made bad marital choices, but genuinely craves commitment.
T. S. Warren, Hour/Canada 2/12/04
