Letters to Juliet Review: Can Love at First Sight Last Forever?

Oddly enough, I fell in love with this movie back in November. I saw the preview before New Moon, and by the end of the film I felt more excitement over seeing Letters to Juliet than Jacob’s abs. Shocker, right?

I’ve waited what seems like forever, then a few days before the film came out I started to worry. Would it disappoint me?

The short answer is no, it didn’t. In reality it delivered more than I expected, and that’s saying something. On the flip side, if you are a girl like me, one who has occasionally displayed the inability to nail down that line between fantasy and reality, movies like this should come with warning labels. Other movies in this category: Pride and Prejudice, The Notebook, and Sleepless in Seattle. Among many, many more.

Why?

Because they make us believe that if we love someone, they will wait for us – even years down the road. They will build us our white house with blue shutters and never fall in love with another woman because loving us and losing us broke something inside them. When we get ourselves together, realize what we want, and return to say I love you, he’ll be waiting. Right? RIGHT?!?

Let me just tell you, that is NOT right. There may or may not be a story behind my unique knowledge. I may or may not have watched The Notebook one too many times before making that ill-advised trip.

Ahem. Back to the film.

Do we know from the beginning that Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) will find her long lost love Lorenzo Bartolini (Franco Nero)? Also that Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and Charlie (Christopher Egan) will fall in love along with way and that she’ll break up with her fiance (Gael Garcia Bernal)? Of course.

The nice thing about this film is that is also offers plenty of surprises.

First, the love interest Charlie, is a bit different than your normal romantic lead. He’s an ass. He’s rude, he puts Sophie down for her American euphemisms, and even suggest that her fiance is saddled with a terrible burden in her love. The writer plays the uptight, no fun British stereotype to the hilt in his character, but it works and his sense of humor is oddly charming.

Sophie is not the type of girl to take such treatment and let it roll off her back, but instead gives Charlie’s attitude back to him in a double doses every chance she gets. The dialogue is clever, and the writer used every opportunity to let us learn more about the characters as they learned about each other, instead of having us feel as though information were being thrown at us. The mix of their personalities put them on a level playing field in a fun way, and I thought it was well done.

Second, Sophie’s relationship with Victor, her fiance, came across very authentic and natural, right down to the break-up scene. Victor’s not a bad guy. He’s a passionate chef, he’s opening a restaurant, and wants to use his time in Italy to meet suppliers, try cheese and wine, and learn from some of the best cooks in the world. I get that. Sophie looked at the trip as a pre-honeymoon, and wanted to spend time together doing couple stuff. I get that too. In the end, they just aren’t right for each other. We’ve all experienced that. Nicely done, part two.

I’ve read other reviews criticizing the main characters and accusing them of being unlikable and having no reason to fall in love with one another. I don’t agree. How many of us have met someone who irritates us, or always says the wrong thing, but when we get to know them and to understand their motivations, it creates love and care. These characters don’t start out terribly likable, but they get there by the end of the film. Once again, feeling authentic and like people I can relate to.

Third, Vanessa Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave. She does a magnificent job in this film, wringing emotion, whether it be humor, longing, or love, out of every moment she graces the screen. She breathes life into a plot that might fall flat without her brilliance. We all know (right, ladies?) that sometimes it is too late for love. The majority of people who go looking for a summer fling they had fifty years ago are going to come up empty handed or worse. Still, because of her natural charm, we understand her persistence and root for her. We want her to find Lorenzo. We want him to remember her, recall the feelings he once had, and embrace her once again.

I don’t feel I need to summarize the plot. The previews do that for you, and reveal a bit too much if you ask me. For a bonus perk, the Italian scenery is gorgeous and for anyone who loves Romeo and Juliet (guilty), the story of Juliet’s wall, as well as the balcony scenes, will also be a plus.

The end is cheesy, but mostly because of the film’s attempt to pay one more homage to Romeo and Juliet, so I forgive it. Amanda Seyfried is beautiful and charming in equal doses, and it’s not surprising that everyone in the film falls at her feet. I’m guessing I would too.

There wasn’t a single moment that pulled me out of the film or left me rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s ridiculous. It will never happen in real life. People don’t remember lovers for fifty years, boys don’t pine away after girls they think are married for months on end, and I’m pretty sure nobody in real life looks like Amanda Seyfried did in that amazing green dress at the end of the film.

Then again, perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe I’m jaded, and cynical, and all those other nasty words for what we become after years of disappointment. It just might be possible for two people to love each other for their entire lives and be the better for it. Are some loves meant to be? What do you think?

While you’re considering, go see Letters to Juliet. Trust me on this one.

Photos by John P. Johnson & Myles Aronowitz – © 2009 Summit Entertainment LLC