new post up for the film Letters to Juliet.....
Sophie and her fiancé are having a pre wedding honeymoon in Vienna where Sophie gets left on her own whilst her fiancé works. Sophie is not overly put out by this as she is enjoying seeing the city. She comes across Juliet’s courtyard and discovers that the women there are leaving notes on the wall to get answers to their problems. Upon discovering a woman removing the letters she follows her to discover there is a group of women who work as Juliet’s secretaries and answer all of the letters.
Sophie returns to the courtyard to help where she discovers a letter which is over 50 years old and sets about answering it. The author is Claire who asks for advice over a love problem and very shortly after sending her reply Claire arrives in Verona with her stuck up grandson.
Sophie and Claire meet and soon they are travelling around trying to find Claire’s true love. There is tension between the grandson and Sophie but will they ever be able to get on and help Claire? What will become of Sophie and her views on love and marriage and will Claire find her true love?
I have seen a few trailers for this film and thought it looked like a good watch which would not require a lot of my brain power. I am pleased to say that both me and hubby enjoyed the film and the story. I did find that the story was a little too predictable at times and I had worked out the ending from about half way through the film but I did not let this spoil my enjoyment of the film.
The acting was good and the lead role of Sophie was played by Amanda Seyfried, she did a good job playing the loved up lady who was looking forward to getting married. She did come across as a bit stuck up at times when on screen with Claire’s grandson but I enjoyed watching their relationship grow and change as the film went on. The one role which I also enjoyed was that of Claire, she was played by Vanessa Redgrave, she gave a good strong performance and came across very well. She was down to Earth and never let her emotions get in the way of reality and I found it quite moving the way she took Sophie under her wing and became a surrogate Grandmother to her. She delivered all of her lines with ease and was a very easy to get to know character. The role of Grandson Charlie was a hard one for me to warm to at first, he was played by Christopher Egan. He had a very posh English accent and this seemed a little over played to me, he seemed very much like a role which Hugh Grant would play and for me it was too much. He did soften as the film moved on but I just think the way he was at the start of the film left me with a negative opinion of him for the whole film. His acting was good but the accent put me right off.
We did have some good support role with included appearances from, Gael Garcia, Luisa Ranieri and Marina Massironi. The support actors did a great job and did bring a little depth to the story. I loved how the local women were portrayed and they did bring a little fun to the film.
The setting for the film was lovely, we had a lot of the city of Verona and I loved seeing how different and old it all was, we also got to see a great amount of the countryside around the city and this was great. I loved all of the driving scenes and thought we got some wonderful views which showed this country off in a lovely way. It has definitely made me want to visit it even more now.
The film was set in the present so no real effort was needed for the costumes and props, they were all good and modern and in keeping with the story. The way the city was portrayed was lovely and I got a good feel for the place from the shots we got and the sets which were used. It all felt a lot slower paced and quieter compared to the likes of America or England and I really don’t think this film would have worked so well if it would have had a different setting. There were no real special effects in the film and none were needed.
The DVD which we have does have some bonus features which include,
Deleted and Extended scenes
Audio commentary
The making of Letters to Juliet
Featurette: A courtyard in Verona.
I ma not a fan of bonus features and have not watched these so I ma not able to make comment on them, the features do come as standard on the DVD so you will not have to pay extra for them. I paid just £5 for my DVD which I felt to be a good price. The running time of the film is 101 minutes and I did find this to be quite long enough,. Any longer and the story would have been dragged out and quite boring. The rate is a PG, there are moderate mild language used and one rude gesture (an old man giving the middle finger) but noting offensive or nothing which cannot be seen on the TV any time of the day.
I am more than happy to give this film 4 stars. The story was good despite being a little predictable, I enjoyed it as it meant I did not have to use a lot of brain power and just sit happily and enjoy what was going on. The acting from the majority of the cast was good and this definitely a film for when you want a good easy romance.
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