Toibin's text is lyrical and paranoid, offering in just 90 minutes a glimpse of a mother's alienation from history, from, in fact, The Greatest Story Ever Told.

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It would continue the greatest story never told.

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"After having played Jesus" in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) "and doing a number of Bergman films, people began to look at me as someone very serious and religious, and even a bit philosophical, " Mr. von Sydow said.

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But the studio wanted him to turn the tale of George and Angie into "the greatest love story ever told".

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"It's the greatest sports story ever not told, I guess, " Zombie said.

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