Letters to Juliet
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Letters to Juliet is a 2010 American romantic comedy film starring Amanda Seyfried, Chris Egan, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael García Bernal, and Franco Nero. Directed by Gary Winick, the film was released theatrically in North America and other countries on May 14, 2010.
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Plot
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is an American girl who works for the New Yorker magazine and is a fact checker. To put some spark in her life she decides to go on a 'pre-honeymoon' with her workaholic chef fiancé Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal) to Verona. However the workaholic Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and utilises his time to do research for his soon to open restaurant ignoring Sophie. The lonely Sophie discovers by chance an unanswered "letter to Juliet" by Claire in 1950's -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet". She answers it and soon enough the now elderly Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) arrives in Verona with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) who works for human rights. Charlie and Sophie take an instant dislike for each other with Charlie behaving very brusque with Sophie while she is very sarcastic with him. On the other hand Claire is still looking to rediscover her long lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. Sophie thinking Claire's story might help her in her writing career decides to help her in her quest. What happens next is a story of romantic twists and turns. They look for many Lorenzo Bartollinis. After many days of searching, they find that a Lorenzo Bartolini has been dead. An angry Charlie blames Sophie for his grandmother's sadness, he yells at her, stating that she does not know what real loss is, which causes Sophie to walk away, upset. Claire, seeing the little dispute, tells Charlie that he was wrong and that Sophie's mother had walked away from her when she was a little girl. The next day, Claire insisted Charlie apologize to Sophie at breakfast, and he did. After dinner, Sophie went out and talked to Charlie about love and he accidentally kissed her. Early morning, as it was their last day of searching for Claire's long lost love, Claire, on a whim, pointed out a vineyard to Charlie and asked if he could stop by so the three of them could have a farewell drink for Sophie. As Charlie drove down the road, Claire saw a man who looked exactly like her Lorenzo. She yelled at Charlie to stop, and he complied. It turns out that the man is Lorenzo Bartolini's grandson. Claire and Lorenzo end up meeting, after 50 long years. Back in New York, Sophie and Victor decide to break up. Sophie returns to Verona to be at Claire and Lorenzo's wedding. She finds Charlie there with another woman and runs out. Charlie comes to find her and she admits to him she loves him, but tells him to go back to his date. Telling Sophie that the girl was actually his cousin, he tells her he loves her as well and kisses her.
Cast
- Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Hall, a fact checker living in New York. She goes on a pre-honeymoon with her fiance to Verona, Italy. While sightseeing, she finds "Juliet's House" with weeping women writing letters and leaving them there. She follows a young woman who takes the letters, and while helping her the next day, she finds a 50-year old letter and decided to write back, leading her to meet Claire, the woman who had written the letter. She embarks on a journey with Claire and her grandson Charlie to find Claire's long lost love. She is Charlie's love interest.
- Chris Egan as Charlie Wyman, Claire's unpleasant grandson (as he described himself). Although he appears to be like that, and also grumpy, Claire explains that he has a good heart, like his grandfather. Charlie soon develops a relationship with Sophie, and he becomes her love interest.
- Vanessa Redgrave as Claire Smith-Wyman, the girl who wrote the letter to Juliet 50 years before. Sophie meets her after Charlie goes to Juliet's secretaries, and she follows him. She is a kind woman, and develops a close friendship with Sophie as they search for her Lorenzo, her long lost love whom she fell in love with when they were fifteen. Her parents did not approve of him, and they were separated.
- Franco Nero as Lorenzo Bartolini, Claire's love interest and long lost love. He met her when they were fifteen years old, in Verona. Claire's parents did not approve of him, and soon they were separated. His son and grandson are both named Lorenzo Bartolini, and they work at a grape vineyard. Nero is Redgrave's real life husband. Roger Ebert, having interviewed both Nero and Redgrave on the set of Camelot, noted how much of the love story between their characters is nearly autobiographical.
- Gael García Bernal as Victor, Sophie's chef fiance. He is constantly busy and barely has time with Sophie. Most of the time during their time in Verona, he is away in some other town while Sophie helps Claire and Charlie. He is even interested in Juliet's secretaries' kitchen's recipes.
- Lidia Biondi as Donatella, one of Juliet's secretaries.
- Daniel Baldock as Lorenzo Jr., the older one of Lorenzo's sons.
- Milena Vukotic as Maria, one of Juliet's secretaries.
- Luisa Ranieri as Secretary, one of the four original Juliet's secretaries.
- Marina Massironi as Francesca, another one of Juliet's secretaries.
- Ashley Lilley as Patricia, Charlie's cousin who has the same name as his ex-girlfriend.
- Oliver Platt (uncredited) as New York magazine editor
Release and reception
Critical reception
Letters to Juliet received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 41% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 138 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. Metacritic gave it an average score of 50 out of 100 from the 34 reviews it collected.
