First released in 2007, Once tells the story of two people who fall in love in Dublin.

Or maybe they don’t.

Really, it depends on how you look at it.

Guy (Glen Hansard) is the son of a man who owns a machine repair shop.  He spends his days standing on a street corner in Dublin, playing his guitar and singing song that he’s written.  Guy is polite and mild-mannered and probably the nicest guy you could ever expect to meet on a street corner.  He’s also incredibly talented, singing his songs with an emotional intensity that demands you stop and listen.  Guy is haunted by a lost love, a woman he dated but then broke up with.  She now lives in London and Guy always wonders, “What if?”

Girl (Marketa Irglova) is originally from the Czech Republic.  She sells flowers and magazines.  She lives at home with her mother and her toddler.  He husband is still back in their home country.  Girl is a musician as well, though she had to leave her piano behind when she came to Ireland.  She hears Guy singing and becomes intrigued.  The fact that she needs her vacuum cleaner (her “hoover” as she puts it) repaired gives her an excuse to keep seeing Guy.  Soon, they’re friends and they’re writing music and even recording a demo tape of their songs.  If Guy goes to London, he wants to take the tape with him because the songs and the music express his emotions more eloquently than he can with just words.

Do Guy and Girl fall in love?

I believe that they they do but then again, I’m a born romantic and it’s hard not to get swept up in the chemistry that’s shared between Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  (They were a couple when they filmed Once and one need only watch them onscreen together to see why.)  I think that Guy and Girl did fall in love, even if the film concludes without them physically acting on those feelings.

But it’s also possible that I’m wrong.  Once is as much a celebration of friendship as it is a love story and it’s possible that Guy and Girl, despite their obvious attraction, never quite reached the point of falling love.  It’s possible that they were utlimately just two close friends who loved creating music together.

Shot on the streets of Dublin on a low budget and featuring likable performances from a cast largely made up of nonprofessionals, Once is a truly special film.  It was my favorite film of 2007 and it definitely has a place on my list of the top films of all time.  The music, the location shooting, the chemistry between Hansard and Irglova, the extended sequence where Guy records his demo tape, all of them come together to create a truly unforgettable and ultimately very touching film.  It’s a film that celebrates not just love and friendship but also the act of artistic expression.  It’s film about creating something that will live forever and touch the souls of the people who hear it.

I’m not typically one to get involved in following the personal lives of celebrities.  But I will admit that I was sincerely saddened when, in 2009, I heard that Hansard and Irglova had broken up.  They seemed so perfect together but, then again, movies are movies and real life is real life.  Once is truly a special movie and, in the end, that’s what truly matters.