The one thing you need to know before you enter the theatre: bring a tissue, or three. This is a love story that will tug at your heart and have you grasping for answers as to how and why anything is possible. In the end you will be telling yourself with great love comes great sorrow and loneliness and you would not want it any other way.

After watching this movie you can only hope for the type of sweet and gentle love the two characters share. Their romance, and chemistry together, is not electric or mesmerizing. They share a complacent connection that fits perfectly within the story for they are two people who have seemingly loved each other throughout time. The two of them together is not about instant attraction, but what keeps love alive through circumstances one cannot even fathom. The depiction of the relationship, and the emotional levels of both Clare (McAdams) and Henry (Bana), is near perfect. This is a couple you delight in watching on screen, even in their darkest moments.

As the movie is constantly moving between the past, present, and future the characters must age in all directions. This effect is done wonderfully on Henry (Bana) but poorly executed for Clare (McAdams). She always appears to be the same age throughout the film even though decades have passed. Seeing Clare in her 40s shows barely a difference, aside from haircut, then her in her 20s. This makes it difficult to distinguish what time period is occurring or how much time has passed in her life as he has travelled between eras. To keep them more in sync, and the viewer less confused, Clare needed to be aged just as much as Henry.