In what is his most straightforward directorial effort yet, Anthony Minghella has fashioned an utterly compelling story of love against the odds.

Inman (Law) is a quiet, self effacing handyman in the North Carolina town of Cold Mountain, in the youthful America of the 1860s.

Ada (Kidman) is a Southern belle who has left behind the sophisticated society of Charleston to join her reverend father in his new parish.

Although from totally opposite social spectrums, Inman and Ada strike up a touchingly tentative relationship,

However, its chance to blossom is nipped in the bud when he is called up by the Confederate forces to fight in the Civil War.

Almost fatally wounded in the neck, Inman renounces what he sees as an unjust conflict and sets off home to Cold Mountain...and Ada.

Meanwhile, after initially struggling to run the farm after the death of he father, Ada is helped out by the spiky Ruby (Zellweger).

Unlike the overwrought emotion of The English Patient, or the heartless manipulation of The Talented Mr Ripley, Minghella's third movie is a relatively simple affair.

But that's not to say it lacks depth or dramatic range. In fact, it's a profoundly accomplished piece of storytelling against a ravishing natural backdrop (Romania's Carpathian Mountains double for North Carolina).

Proceeding at a stately pace, the characters have time to grow and become fully rounded, while a vibrant gallery of supporting characters ensure a richly attractive narrative.

We follow the dogged Inman as he comes across Philip Seymour Hoffman's lascivious priest and helpless widow Sara (Natalie Portman) with her sickly child, while evading the attentions of the vicious Home Guard.

The cultured but impractical Ada has to knuckle down and get her hands dirty on the farm under the watchful eye of Ruby's able country girl.

All the while, the brooding menace of Ray Winstone's Home Guard chief Teague over-shadows life in Cold Mountain, while the menfolk are at war.

Flawlessly acted with a literate script and mouth-watering cinematography, it's unashamedly old-fashioned film-making.

Minghella has captured the spirit of Frazier's source novel without falling foul of the Hollywood's formulaic straitjacket.

Cold Mountain is the crowning glory of a director at the peak of his craft.

Tim Evans