"Letters to Juliet" is a card carrying member of the romantic comedy family, a chick flick through and through with no attempts at being anything else. As a part of a small number of men, at least men who admit it, who happen to enjoy this genre of films I went in with this expectation. And I was not let down. It is a film that seeks to show that although love can be lost, when it is true love can never die.
The film opens introducing Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, a fact finder for the New Yorker who would like nothing more than to be a writer. Sophie is soon to be married to her fiancé Victor, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, who is opening a restaurant and in need of a get away from planning they go to Italy. In Italy Sophie after being left by Victor, who is working, comes upon the wall of Juliet where women from all over the world come to write to Juliet about their love lives. After meeting the women who respond to the letters, Sophie finds and writes a response to a letter written in the 1940's by a woman named Claire.
In amazingly fast time, just a number of days, Claire receives the letter and travels to Italy to find the person who wrote the letter and then to find her long lost love. Of course at this point Claire, played by Vanessa Redgrave, is much older and is accompanied by her sarcastic and overly protective grandson, Charlie who is played by Christopher Egan. Sophie, after meeting Claire, asks to join the search for Lorenzo, the man Claire left behind, much to the chagrin of Charlie, due to his disdain for the entire search. Over the course of many failed attempts to find Lorenzo, Sophie sees the love Claire still has for a man she hasn't seen in years and realizes she does not feel that for Victor. Charlie finally gets over himself and shows that he is more than an overly protective, generally unhappy person, which causes sparks to fly between Sophie and himself. Lorenzo is finally found, played by Ms. Redgrave's real life husband Franco Nero, and a wedding is planned between Lorenzo and Claire. After calling off her engagement to Victor, Sophie returns to Italy for the wedding and more importantly to be with Charlie, which of course he is only more than happy to oblige too.
The film never gets to depressed or deep, keeping the lighting bright without many scenes in the dark. The soundtrack filled with songs by Taylor Swift and other romantic pop singers helped to keep the romance "fun", without much drama. The film was predictable and never really dug deep but it was also not asked to. Ms. Redgrave saved the film several times, bringing an air of respectability to the acting, and her story of love was the real love story. Much like "The Notebook" before it, this was a film that sought to show love that had dealt with the test of time and was still as strong as when it started, despite the heartache along the way.
The film opens introducing Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, a fact finder for the New Yorker who would like nothing more than to be a writer. Sophie is soon to be married to her fiancé Victor, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, who is opening a restaurant and in need of a get away from planning they go to Italy. In Italy Sophie after being left by Victor, who is working, comes upon the wall of Juliet where women from all over the world come to write to Juliet about their love lives. After meeting the women who respond to the letters, Sophie finds and writes a response to a letter written in the 1940's by a woman named Claire.
In amazingly fast time, just a number of days, Claire receives the letter and travels to Italy to find the person who wrote the letter and then to find her long lost love. Of course at this point Claire, played by Vanessa Redgrave, is much older and is accompanied by her sarcastic and overly protective grandson, Charlie who is played by Christopher Egan. Sophie, after meeting Claire, asks to join the search for Lorenzo, the man Claire left behind, much to the chagrin of Charlie, due to his disdain for the entire search. Over the course of many failed attempts to find Lorenzo, Sophie sees the love Claire still has for a man she hasn't seen in years and realizes she does not feel that for Victor. Charlie finally gets over himself and shows that he is more than an overly protective, generally unhappy person, which causes sparks to fly between Sophie and himself. Lorenzo is finally found, played by Ms. Redgrave's real life husband Franco Nero, and a wedding is planned between Lorenzo and Claire. After calling off her engagement to Victor, Sophie returns to Italy for the wedding and more importantly to be with Charlie, which of course he is only more than happy to oblige too.
The film never gets to depressed or deep, keeping the lighting bright without many scenes in the dark. The soundtrack filled with songs by Taylor Swift and other romantic pop singers helped to keep the romance "fun", without much drama. The film was predictable and never really dug deep but it was also not asked to. Ms. Redgrave saved the film several times, bringing an air of respectability to the acting, and her story of love was the real love story. Much like "The Notebook" before it, this was a film that sought to show love that had dealt with the test of time and was still as strong as when it started, despite the heartache along the way.