Letters To Juliet (Summit Entertainment)
A Movie For the Heart
Letters To Juliet is the most unabashedly romantic movie of the year, and maybe the past few years. It is a story aimed straight at the heart and is not ashamed at all to be so romantic. An almost perfect cast tells this story of a woman looking for a past love and influencing a present one.
In the film Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is a fact checker for The New Yorker magazine. At this point in her life and career she wants to stop checking facts and be a full fledged writer. She contemplates this as she flies off to Italy for a pre-honeymoon with her fiance Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal).
In Italy she visits the house of Juliet and sees the wall where people leave letters to Juliet. She is fascinated by the fact that these letters are collected each day and taken by a group of women who call themselves secretaries to Juliet. Sophie contacts them and finds they answer each and every answer left at the wall. One day Sophie finds a letter hidden in the wall and asks if she can be the one to answer it, and is given permission.
The letter is from a woman named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) who was in love with a man named Lorenzo (Franco Nero). They were supposed to elope but she got cold feet and returned to England. In this fifty year old letter that Sophie found, she is asking Juliets advice.
A few days after Sophie answers the letter Claire and her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) show up. Against Charlies better wishes Claire has decided to hunt for Lorenzo. Since Victor is tied up with some business dealings Sophie asks if she can go along and help look for Lorenzo.
Seyfried is delightful in this movie whereas I have found her just annoying in others. Maybe it is that she gets to share the screen with Bernal and the luminous Vanessa. Those two could make anybody look good. Still Seyfried is also good in her scenes with Egan so I have to give her some credit for having talent.
Redgrave lights up every scene she is in. Maybe it is because of her recent losses of a brother, a sister and a daughter. Your heart goes out to Claire/Redgrave and you find poignancy in everything she says and does.
It is also a plus to have Nero play the elusive Lorenzo. He and Redgrave are now married but it has taken some time for them to get together. They still have the explosive chemistry on screen that we first saw in Camelot where she was Guinevere and he was Lancelot.
Bernal is an exceptionally fine young actor. He manages to be the harried, too busy for love restaurateur but still demands our attention each time he is on screen. He may be playing what should be an unlikable role but we like him just the same because of his talent and charm.
The film is rated PG for mild profanity.
Letters To Juliet is an unexpected pleasure. In this summer of blockbusters it is hoped it will not be overlooked. Go see it and then tell a friend how good it is.
I scored Letters To Juliet a return to sender 7 out of 10.
