Closing the ring is a heartfelt love story spanning two continents and half a century about a young girl Ethel Ann (Shirley Maclaine) who loses her American airman boyfriend Teddy when his B17 bomber crashes into Belfast's Black Mountain.

We see the early days of the courtship of Ethel Ann and Teddy against the backdrop of America being drawn into World War II. It's a proper Mills and Boon romance with Teddy even making plans for whom will look after Ethel Ann if he doesn't make it back from the war. Teddy opts for Chuck (David Alpay) in that respect, but his other best friend Jack (Christopher Plummer) also carries a torch for her.

With no sign of Teddy returning from the war, Ethel Ann marries Teddy's best friend Chuck and bears him a daughter Marie (Neve Campbell) and life begins again but it will be decades later when a young irish boy on the hills of Black Mountain discovers a ring inscribed by Teddy which he was meaning to give to his loved one, and when the young man tracks Ethel Ann down, the past will re-surface again.

Closing the Ring is a full blown romance about love and closure, love and reconciliation, a raking of the past and a commitment to the future against a war backdrop.

It will certainly be of interest to an older audience looking for an intelligent and considered film. It's handsomely staged by Attenborough with much attention to detail and good performances from the likes of Pete Postlethwaite, Neve Campbell and David Alpay particularly.

Ultimately, you feel as you're watching the film expecting there to be a big pay-off at the end and it doesn't quite achieve that, possibly because it could have benefited from slightly tighter editing in the final third.

That said it's a good story, it seamlessly travels between different timezones (but you can still follow it easily enough). It's only the slow pace towards the end that galls a bit.