This romantic - and funny - ghost story won praise for Anthony Minghella on his directorial debut. Early on, you suspect that you are in for some heavy stuff about the psychology of grief, but when Alan Rickman appears in ghostly form, the tone of the film lightens. Juliet Stevenson gives a performance of great charm and is well complemented by Rickman, so that you can happily forget that the joke - how does one actually live day-to-day with a ghost? - is a little overworked, especially when Rickman invites a number of his friends over. 'Are you telling me? ' asks an incredulous Stevenson, 'that there are dead people in my living-room watching videos? ' A strong supporting cast includes Bill Paterson as Stevenson's sympathetic boss and David Ryall, contributing a delightful cameo as a philosophical pest control officer.

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