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I was staying with relatives and we planned to watch something else, but their DVD player didn’t seem to work… so they chose ‘Letters to Juliet’ from films available on one of their subscription services. I had never heard of it, but the brief blurb sounded intriguing. It turned out to be an excellent choice, one which we all liked very much.
The story opens with a young couple going on a pre-wedding honeymoon to Verona, in Italy. Amanda Seyfried is excellent as the caring, romantic Sophie. She hopes that this short holiday will bring her closer to her fiance Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal). He’s a nice enough young man but rather obsessed with his work as a chef… and instead of relaxing and enjoying the romance of the area, he arranges meetings and has very little time for Sophie.
So she goes sight-seeing on her own, and discovers ‘Juliet’s Wall’ - a bizarre idea, we thought, since Juliet was a fictional creation by Shakespeare. But apparently many visitors, in reality, write notes to the tragic heroine, hoping for comfort or reassurance. Even if Juliet had existed, she would be long gone, but replies are sent out. I’m not sure how much is based on reality, but in the film Sophie discovers that a team of women work all hours to attempt to keep up with the notes, and answer them wherever possible.
Sophie gets drawn into this, as they need someone who can write in English, and she discovers a letter that was written fifty years earlier. She has no idea if the person concerned is even alive, but replies anyway… and this is the catalyst for some unexpected meetings and discoveries.
It’s an unusual setting and theme for a fairly traditional story of love, disappointment, mutual dislike and growing attraction. But there's another subplot, the one involving the now elderly Clare, brilliantly portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave. Her screen chemistry is so good, her acting flawless, and we could totally believe in her character who is warm, caring and determined to solve a mystery from the past.
We all found it very watchable, unsure where it was going to go. There are some quite poignant moments but also some gentle humour here and there, and the acting, at least from the main characters, is excellent. The rating is PG, and while I can't imagine it would appeal to children or even teenagers, there's nothing unsuitable other than some mild bad language.
'Letters to Juliet' won’t appeal to those who like fact action and tension, but for a light evening’s viewing with some depth, I would definitely recommend it.
