Taglines: In the game of love, three’s are wild.
Twice Upon a Yesterday movie storyline. Victor (Henshall) is an actor in London who is desperate to stop his ex-girlfriend, Sylvia (Headey), to whom he was unfaithful, from marrying another man. After meeting two mysterious dustmen, he is given the chance to travel back in time and relive his romance. However, he finds that things develop differently this time around—Sylvia has an affair with Dave (Strong), and she leaves him.
The Man with Rain in His Shoes is a 1998 Spanish-British romantic comedy film, written by Spanish singer-songwriter Rafa Russo, directed by Spanish filmmaker María Ripoll[1] (in her directing debut) and starring Lena Headey, Douglas Henshall, Penélope Cruz, Mark Strong and Elizabeth McGovern with Paul Popplewell. The film was released under the titles Twice Upon a Yesterday in the United States and If Only… in France, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The soundtrack features songs performed by Alpha Blondy, Nigel and Lewis, Salif Keita, and Susana Martins. The film’s writer Rafa Russo also performs his own composition “Friends Are Friends”. The film won Best Screenplay 1998 at the Montreal World Film Festival, the Gran Angular Award 1998 at the Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival and the Bronze Precolumbian Circle at the 1999 Bogota Film Festival.
Film Review for Twice Upon a Yesterday
“Pleasant” best describes “Twice Upon a Yesterday,” a romance set in London about young lovers undergoing major changes — with a little magical nudge from fate.
There’s every likelihood that the film will find a devoted audience looking for a diversion and not demanding much depth. But something is missing from the story — pleasant isn’t enough to make a satisfying experience.
Lena Headey (“Mrs. Dalloway,” “The Jungle Book”) and Scottish actor Douglas Henshall (“Angels & Insects”) star as lovers who get a bit star-crossed, in the old Shakespearean way. As delightful Sylvia and Victor, they appear to share a warm and caring romance, and both are nice, unpretentious folks — with character.
But Victor, an actor, blows it when he has a one-night fling with a co-star in a play he’s rehearsing. Stubbornly honorable, he makes the further mistake of telling Sylvia what he’s done. Hurt and betrayed, she tosses him out, and her bitter reaction throws him for such a loop that he goes into a nosedive of remorse and heavy drinking at a neighborhood bar.
The bartender (Elizabeth McGovern) is sympathetic to Victor’s sorrows but urges him into the rainy night to sleep things off. She gives him a tattered umbrella. The detail is important because “Twice Upon a Yesterday” takes a turn into magical realism when Victor encounters two mysterious garbage collectors who are an awful lot like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
In a thematic takeoff from Cervantes, Victor is given a chance to go back in time and relive his romance. But things are different — Sylvia strikes up an affair with a handsome friend (Mark Strong) and Victor meets the beautiful Louise (Penelope Cruz). This time the truth Victor must face in his relationship with Sylvia is quite different — and he feels betrayed.
The cast is extremely pleasant, helping the film maintain vitality. Headey plays Sylvia as smart but down to earth, and Henshall’s Victor is convincingly fleshed-out, evolving from somewhat of a cur to someone the audience can root for.
The film was made by Spaniard Maria Ripoll in her directing debut. She captures the London settings’ charm and romance without avoiding the fact that it’s a big, multiethnic city (some sequences shot in Notting Hill, for example, are a considerable improvement on those in the film “Notting Hill”).
The soundtrack is a pleasure — Spanish singer-songwriter Rafa Russo wrote the story, so perhaps he knew what would work musically. Songs are performed by Alpha Blondy, Nigel and Lewis, Salif Keita and Susana Martins. Russo also sings his own “Friends Are Friends” on the soundtrack.
Twice Upon a Yesterday (1999)
Directed by: Maria Ripoll
Starring: Lena Headey, Douglas Henshall, Penélope Cruz, Guastavo Salmerón, Eusebio Lázaro, Mark Strong, Charlotte Coleman, Neil Stuke, Elizabeth McGovern
Screenplay by: Rafa Russo
Production Design by: Grant Hicks
Cinematography by: Javier Salmones
Film Editing by: Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Costume Design by: John Krausa
Set Decoration by: Neesh Ruben
Art Direction by: Eddie Andres, Grant Armstrong
Music by: Bernardo Fuster, Ángel Illarramendi, Luis Mendo
MPAA Rating: R for language and a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: Trimark Pictures
Release Date: January 25, 1999
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