IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH (ORDINARY LOVE)

Sometimes it's easy to forget Liam Neeson's career before he became an action hero.

Over the years, we have grown accustomed to his Clint Eastwood/Charles Bronson screen persona, dispatching nasty thugs in twisty revenge thrillers,.

But it wasn't always like that.

Ask anyone who remembers his affecting turn as a grieving priest in Colin Gregg's 1986 screen adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty's 'Lamb' with a young Hugh O'Connor.

Or what about Angela Pope's 1988 Screen Two TV movie for the BBC, 'Sweet As You Are' in which he played a terrified university lecturer who has to tell Miranda Richardson's wife he  has contracted the HIV virus from a student?

Then, there was his performance in Leonard Nimoy's uneven 1988 movie 'The Good Mother' as a sculptor whose moment of madness in a shower gets him ensnared in a bitter custody battle between his lover, Diane Keaton's piano teacher and her ex-husband, played by John Naughton, over their daughter.

Add to that his performances in Roland Joffe's 'The Mission', David Leland's 'The Big Man', Woody Allen's 'Husbands and Wives', Michael Apted's 'Nell', Neil Jordan's 'Michael Collins', Bill Condon's 'Kinsey', Oliver Hirschbiegel's 'Five Minutes of Heaven', Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' and, of course, Steven Spielberg's 'Schindler's List' and you have an impressive CV.

These movies featured a different Neeson - a Neeson who was an astute observer of human frailty and contradictory behaviour.

But that Neeson has been pretty much relegated to the bench in recent years by the high body count of three 'Taken' movies, 'A Walk Among the Tombstones', 'Non Stop', 'Run All Night', 'The Commuter' and 'Cold Pursuit'.

Neeson, one of Hollywood's favourite hard men, has strayed into the dangerous territory of typecasting and self-parody.

So when he does occasionally sink his teeth into more nuanced roles, it's a relief to see him not relying on a gun, a knife or a quip.

That sense of relief is palpable in Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn's 'Ordinary Love' - an intimate Northern Irish drama about a couple upended by a diagnosis of breast cancer.

'Ordinary Love' is Barros D'Sa and Leyburn's third feature - their 2009 debut 'Cherrybomb' featured Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan and James Nesbitt, while their 2013 film 'Good Vibrations' with Richard Dormer and Jodie Whitaker is simply the greatest Northern Irish movie ever made.

Working from a screenplay by the acclaimed playwright Owen McCafferty, the movie is a beautifully crafted and honest study of a couple wrestling with the emotions generated by a cancer diagnosis and bouts of chemotherapy.

It is a tough, yet tender watch - made all the more compelling by the performances of Neeson, David Wilmot and especially Lesley Manville.

Manville and Neeson play Joan and Tom, a retired middle aged couple living in Jordanstown, on the outskirts of Belfast.

Bookended by the end of one Christmas and the onset of another, we initially see Tom and Joan exercising with a vigorous walk on the seafront and then curled up in their living room in front of the TV.

Within minutes, however, Joan discovers a lump in her breast while taking a shower and seeks Tom's confirmation that he can feel it too.

A trip to the GP results in an appointment in hospital and the confirmation that the lump is cancerous.

Joan and Tom shuffle back and forth from their house to a number of hospital appointments but as concerns for her health grow and she embarks on bouts of chemotherapy, their ordeal sets off a range of emotions linked to a past tragedy.

Along the way, they encounter David Wilmot's teacher Peter who is suffering from terminal cancer and becomes a bit of an emotional crutch for Joan.

Tom, meanwhile, crumbles with the realisation that he could lose his wife.

All of this would make you think 'Ordinary Love' is a dour affair but it is actually wonderfully bittersweet.

At the beginning of the film, Joan and Tom exchange the type of banter that many married couples engage in - about fitbits, his desire for a beer after a vigorous walk and later what to get in the shops.

But as Joan's battle with cancer becomes more challenging, the cosy banter is stripped away and their insecurities are laid bare.

The couple bicker as Joan suffers the physical effects of chemotherapy and Tom struggles to deal with her plight.

After the rows comes the guilt but then they manage to find moments of black humour.

When the banter resurfaces - in the most testing of times - it takes on a deeper significance, becoming something of a comfort blanket.

Barros d'Sa, Leyburn and McCafferty turn a heartbreaking experience that many couples navigate into a profoundly cinematic experience.

The authenticity of Tom and Joan's tale is its greatest asset.

What might seem mundane outside the cinema is suddenly imbued with a deeper resonance.

So a trip by Tom to the loo while Joan waits in hospital to be called for her appointment turns into an agonising wait.

The cutting of Joan's hair is a big loss but Tom's attempts to find humour in a difficult situation is a pure expression of love.

McCafferty's script makes the ordinary extraordinary, adeptly switching tone and knowing when to dial up and dial down the agony and the ecstasy.

Subtly shot in dark palettes by Piers McGrail, Barros d'Sa and Leyburn also let their cast create believable characters.

So tender is the portrayal of Tom and Joan's relationship that you never waiver in your belief that Neeson and Manville are a couple.

In the more challenging part, Manville doesn't hit a false note, especially as the chemo starts to take its toll.

Neeson's performance is reminiscent of the frightened younger man he portrayed in 'Sweet As You Are' and, in one impressively executed scene, he manages to turn a TV movie cliche - the graveside chat - on its head.

Wilmot is also wonderful as a sympathetic ear for Joan who is facing his own mortality, while Amit Shah impresses as his lover.

'Ordinary Love' is an honest examination of true love in the face of adversity.

A rare glimpse into the reality of battling cancer, it will be a tough sell - particularly to those wishing to escape from the kind of predicament Tom and Joan find themselves in.

But it is an illuminating watch as well 

After the adrenaline rush of 'Good Vibrations', the tonal shift of 'Ordinary Love' demonstrates Barros d'Sa and Leyburn's range as assured directors.

It also confirms them as the standard bearers for indigenous Northern Irish film.

But more importantly, as the credits roll, it reminds you of the importance of little acts of kindness in any relationship - especially in the face of adversity.

Forget the sugar coated Festive romance of 'Love Actually' or 'The Holiday'. This is the real deal.

('Ordinary Love' is released in the Movie House cinema chain in Northern Ireland and other UK and Irish cinemas on December 6, 2019)