1.   It leavens its essential seriousness with enlivening humor.

2.   Ms. Goldberg is able to accommodate all manner of jokey outbursts without obscuring the essential seriousness of her performance.

3.   Philippe Noiret makes a convincingly grumpy Neruda, who cuts a comical figure in telling contrast to his essential seriousness.

4.   The more Ms. Mutter trades on a glamorous image, it seems, the more surely she is recognized for her essential seriousness as an artist and a person.

5.   Yet an essential seriousness remains clear.