Henry (Eric Bana) a research library is greeted by a young lady named Clare (Rachel McAdams.) Clare knows Henry. In fact, she has been in love with him all her life. Therefore, Clare knows Henry. However, Henry does not know Claire. Yet Henry knows the Clare knows him and why.
After we dispense with who knows whom and why, after we dispense with how it is possible or improbable. We get to the point this is an extremely complex and intriguing love story without all this sappiness that distracts from a very good viewing experience.
I have had the good luck or misfortune of watching this movie before reading the book. You can see from the pacing of the movie that there was a terrific effort to adapt and include the highlights and the essence of the book to the point that they are duplicates and not trying to just make a movie with the names and places.
I have only seen the Blu-Ray version. They took great pains to describe how wonderful Blu-Ray is before the movie starts. However, there is an appalling lack of DVD goodies or extras like a voiceover by the actors or directors.
Some movies just deserve top billing without having to dissect it to find out why.