When asked how long it will last, Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) replies ‘for as long as we can ride it. There ain’t no reins on this one”. He’s talking to fellow cowboy Ennis (Heath Ledger) with whom he’s fallen in love. Ang Lee’s superior story starts silently with two men looking for work in the summer of ’63. No words are exchanged in a long scene full of tense, nervous anxiety: it sets the tenor for a film notable by what it doesn’t say when a pause, look or shuffle will do.

As summer passes with only whisky for warmth, the men become friends and, in an explosive moment, lovers. ‘I’m not queer’, Ennis recoils. ‘Nor am I’, says Jake. In no time they’re at it again despite the uncertainty of where it will lead. Which is back home where Ennis marries his sweetheart and perplexed, the men cope with their feelings by ignoring them (although one quick sex scene in which Ennis flips his wife on her stomach says everything). Some years later, Jake passes through town and like uncontrollable teenagers, they’re back up the mountain to give ‘fishing trip’ a whole new meaning.

Thus Lee’s story develops into a romantic, erotic, teary and often bleak tale of unrequited love: husbands, wives, parents and children unable to reconcile their circumstances. Brokeback Mountain is a significant breakthrough and a major achievement most notable for a career-best from Ledger. His impressive turn as a frightened, ill-equipped man is full of tight-lipped mumblings and internalised longing that is simply heart-breaking. It’s good to see Lee back on form to reign in this beautiful and delicately nuanced opus. Don’t miss it.

// COLIN FRASER