Since word broke that Ang Lee was directing the film version of E Annie Proulx's short story Brokeback Mountain, there has been much salacious nudging and winking in the press about gay cowboys and headlines such as 'gays on the range'.

But the film is about so much more than Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal locking lips. It is a universal tale of forbidden love between two men who forge a deep connection that cannot be dampened by time.

Many thought Lee had lost most of his sense in making the film, but he brings the same decorum featured in his Jane Austen adaptation, Sense and Sensibility.

Very little is seen of Ledger and Gyllenhaal getting physical, and indeed they spend most of the film apart trying to forge more acceptable lives with wives and children. Only the first 30 minutes of the film is spent in the wide, open plains of Wyoming, where Ledger's Ennis Del Mar and Gyllenhaal's rodeo rider Jack Twist meet when herding sheep.

Jack and Ennis consummate their love wordlessly and violently on the mountain and, though they treat it as a one-off, a passionate relationship develops. However, their campfire tryst is seen by ranch boss Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) and the pair are dismissed.

Despite Jack's requests for the pair to set up home together, the two go their separate ways. Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams) and has two daughters, while Jack marries fellow rodeo star Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and has a son. Both actresses are superb.

Much of the film's success depends on the strength of the leads' performances and they are excellent: Gyllenhaal has the more expansive role as the brash, charismatic Jack, but it is Ledger who astounds as the insular Ennis.

No matter who you are, it will be hard not to be affected. This is the most romantic film I've seen in years.