Letters to Juliet [DVD] [2010]

I have a rule. I see a film once and if I like/love it I buy the dvd. I loved this film. I came out of the cinema with such a high I was skipping all the way home. The plot is good. The acting was brilliant. The light and colours really stood out. It's nice to see a romance film with light in it. I love the music in it especially Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' A song that really fits the film and it is a great song in the first place. The setting was perfect and made me want to get on a plane to Italy and explore this beautiful country. Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero are legends and a real life Romeo and Juliet. Amanda Seyfried the Queen of romantic films a far cry from Mean Girls. Christopher Egan the Austrailian that CAN do a believeable British accent and play the arrogant Englishman that turns good. Yes there are the typical cliches but they work. The only thing I would change is add more sex and more romantic jestures. A PG film that could easily be a 12 without many changes. I can't wait till October when I can sit down on a dark winters day and watch a film with light in it.

I bought this DVD a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it to the extent that I downloaded all the music associated with the film and created a soundtrack CD. I watched the film again last night and this is one DVD I shall never part with. A review from a few years' back said, "Guys won't like this film". Well, I'm a 69-year-old grandfather (remember, 69 is young, these days) and I think the film is wonderful. It's pretty easy to find a fault in most films, but why do so when a film is overall so enjoyable ? As many have written, the scenery is gorgeous and, in this, I would include Amanda Seyfried who is delightful and beautifully portrays unrequited/forbidden love towards the end of the film. Yes, the story can be judged as far-fetched and fairly predictable, but most of us would not be satisfied with a non-happy ending. Christopher Egan slightly overdoes the stuffy, rather ill-mannered Englishman, but this at least spawns a few good one-liners. The premise of the film is refreshingly different for a rom-com and, in summary, I absolutely love it !

This film was on TV the other day and a friend said she thought I would like it. So I recorded it, and guess what? I DID!! So much so I watched it twice!! I then decided I had to have the DVD and since receiving it I have watched it again!! It is such a lovely film and the location is fantastic. I think why I loved it was the bringing together again of Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero!! And when they meet for the first time again after all those years, it brought back memories of them acting together in Camelot and made me cry each time!! It's a wonderful film, with no violence or bad language, just a good old fashioned feel good film. Mainly one for the girls, but can be enjoyed by all the family!!

You can't blame this film for being predictable or cliched: it's what rom-coms are, and after one look at the synopsis, you can easily guess what is going to happen. Amanda Seyfreid plays Sophie, a New York newspaper fact-finder keen to showcase her real talent, writing. She and her chef fiance, Victor, have organised a pre-wedding holiday in Tuscany. The cracks in their relationship are visible early on- her fiance is wrapped up in his own career, isn't really interested in her and sadly neglects her on holiday, leaving her to wander solo around Verona. It is here she discovers what she thinks will make the perfect story for her journalistic debut- the letters to Juliet, written by love-lorn tourists seeking advice from Juliet. Sophie soon learns that a group of local women answer each and every letter, and she discovers a fifty year old letter that has lain unanswered, from a young girl, Claire, who has abandoned her first love, Lorenzo. Sophie decides to reply, hoping her reply reaches Claire. It does, and Claire, now an elegant older woman (played by the divine Vanessa Redgrave), sets out to find Lorenzo with Sophie's help, accompanied by her reluctant and ridiculously priggish but handsome grandson Charlie (Christopher Eagan), who resents what he sees as Sophie's meddling and thinks the whole thing can only end in tears. As they set out to identify Lorenzo from a multitude of namesakes, the animosity between Sophie and Charlie eventually grows to respect and their chemistry is undeniable. So yes, the plot is far-fetched, but it is really lovely escapism, as many of the best rom-coms are. The cinematography is beautiful, as is the scenery. The actors are all good, Seyfreid is sensitive, clever and mature- showing her growing versatility as a serious actress, since her debut in Mean Girls. Eagan as Charlie is engimatic and handsome but there is something slightly amiss about him. To blame for this is his absurdly posh English accent, and some of the cheesy old-fashioned lines he gets. It never ceases to annoy me how American writers assume all English eligible bachelors are 'Hooray Henrys' and talk as though they have a plum in their mouths. I don't know anyone under the age of sixty that uses the prefix 'blasted'- I'm afraid that poor Eagan's part in the dialogue left me slightly cold (despite his devastating looks) and detracted a little from the more real scripting Redgrave and Seyfreid's parts had. Also, I couldn't help but feel that the Claire-Lorenzo plot was neglected in parts and served more to facilitate the Sophie-Charlie romance, but then it wouldn't do for the trio to find Lorenzo too soon in the sotry. These are my onlt criticisms of the film, which in other respects was charming and enjoyable and recommended for a girly night in.

Wonderful acting by Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfried especially, and some very funny and touching moments. Sensitively directed by Gary Winick, the heart and humanity in the storytelling shines through. This film really does make you think about the meaning of love and companionship and how important they really are in life. The central message - having the courage to follow your dreams and your heart, and taking the chances that life throws up, is a wonderful message for our times. I loved the character journey's woven into the script - the idea that we see things around us that cause us to change and grow, that often we need to allow others to show us the way and sometimes we have to make mistakes in order to realise where our passions really lie. Love really does have no age, a message which the two parallel love stories remind us of so clearly. This is an uplifting film (with some great cinematography) which will move you to tears more than one, and a movie which gives everybody hope that true love never fades and celebrates the basic good that lies within us all. Oh, by the way - I'm a guy who does not usually watch this kind of film, but absolutely loved this. A quick thought on the final scene, which seems to have come in for some criticism in these reviews. Come on guys, it's a romantic comedy - it's supposed to have an element of fantasy. That's the magic of movies surely. If we find it difficult to appreciate the storytelling here, then maybe we have to accept, it may say more about us, than it does about the director's ability to balance the emotion of the love story with the fantasy element of the comedy. For what it's worth, I thought the balance Gary struck, was very much in the spirit of the movie. Maybe we don't watch enough 1950's rom coms these days, or maybe we Brits really are are not as romantic as we'd like to think.

Highly recommended

Hard to figure this one out - couple go to Tuscany (Italy yet again) for a honeymoon before their wedding. He is absolutely full of himself as a chef who is opening his own restaurant in New York. She is therefore at a loose end and finds in a wall a letter from 50 years ago written to Juliet of Capulet fame. She decides to answer the letter and bingo up turns the writer (Vanessa Redgrave and her obnoxious grandson Charlie). They set out to find her love of 50 years ago Lorenzo Bartolini of which there are 74 in the region - must be the John Smith of Tuscany. Over the passing days her fiance is sourcing wine and cheese and food (what a supply bill from Italy eh?) and the couple along with this Sophie hall traipse around Tuscany in a rental car and find all kinds of Lorenzos but not hers. Eventually Charlie and Sophie realise there is a spark although he is as wooden as a wardrobe and sums him up at one time as an 'elitist Oxford prig'. The most perfect line is spoken by Charlie as he explains that Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) is tired this morning and wants a sleep-in. Is she OK says Sophie yes tough as old boots is Gran - Churchill in a dress!!! The one thing I cannot get over is the rictus smile of Vanessa Redgrave and her awful acting all through the film. I feel this was her swansong!!

Great film & scenery purchased as I had read the book.Easy to watch and follow the story line

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My wife adores this movie, we have watched it a number of times.

Ich liebe diesen romantischen Film. Ich macht das Herz groß und weit und lässt einen voller Sehnsucht träumen. Die Geschichte ist einfach berührend und man ertappt sich dabei, selig zu seufzen - und das gleich mehrmals während des Filmes. Die Schauspieler sind sagenhaft gecastet - großes Kompliment!

DVD wouldn’t play on my device gave message to “Check Regional Code” Didn’t realize it was coming from England and that could be a problem

Realmente existe el club de cartas a Julieta en Verona. La película aprovecha este hecho real para crear una ficción romántica con grandes paisajes italianos.