LETTERS TO JULIET is an old-fashioned romantic film based on a non-fiction novel with the same name, yet not like typical romantic movies. As the name sounds, it is based on the trend of letter writing to one of Shakespeare’s most famous romantic heroines. Interestingly, the plot is so surprisingly unique that it holds you till the end even if it is very much predictable.
An American girl Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried) is a hard-working fact-checker at The New Yorker, and who is also an aspiring writer. When she moves to Verona, Italy, with her fiance Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal of the “Motorcycle Diaries” fame) for a pre-wedding honeymoon, she discovers many more things that certainly changed her life.
As Victor, a busy chef, who is more fascinated with wine, cheese, and olive oil than spending time with his loveable would-be wife; they finally decided to do their own while traveling in the beautiful old city of Verona where Romeo and Juliet first met. Verona is also the city where there is a wall where the lovesick women leave notes, hoping that Juliet will answer their inquiries about love.
Fascinated about the idea of letter writing on behalf of Juliet, Sophie becomes a part of a team of volunteers who respond to the letters. Once, while gathering letters from the wall, she discovers a very old one written some 50 years ago by a British woman named Claire (Vanessa Redgrave). And Sophie decides to answer it.
A few days later, Claire with her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) visits Verona on a mission to find her long-lost true love Lorenzo (Franco Nero). Certainly, they meet Sophie and from there, romance starts to blossom all around.
Directed by Gary Winick, Letters to Juliet is a good-humored romantic comedy (more a drama) that can be enjoyed by a family audience. Other than the themes of love and romance, the film cites pre-marital relationships, family, loss, and destiny. Moreover, the picture-perfect view of the Italian countryside sets the tone for the film.
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Movie Plot
Letters To Juliet is an enchanting story about love — of encountering new sparks and rekindling old flames. When a young American, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), travels to Verona, Italy — the romantic city where Romeo first met Juliet — she meets a group of volunteers who responds to letters written to Juliet seeking advice about love. Sophie finds and responds to a letter that has been lost for 50 years, which inspires its author Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) to travel to Italy to find her long-lost soul mate. Together, the two women embark on an adventure that will change their lives forever — a journey filled with laughter and companionship, discoveries about themselves, and the meaning of true love.
Letters to Juliet (2010)
Genre: Romance, Drama
Directed by Gary Winick
Written by José Rivera, Tim Sullivan
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero.
Cinematography: Marco Pontecorvo
Release dates: April 25, 2010 (Tribeca Film Festival), May 14, 2010 (United States)
Where to watch Letters to Juliet (2010)
