Letters to Julia

2010 is a good year for Amanda Seyfried. Having already been convincing this year in "Chloe" and "The Shine of Silence", she is once again a bright spot in a rather stale production in the cloying romance "Letters to Juliet" from director Gary Winick ("30 Overnight").

Seyfried stars in the romance film as Sophie, an aspiring journalist who flies to Verona with her fiancé, passionate restaurant owner Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), hoping to spend a few romantic days there and escape the stresses of everyday life. But as soon as he arrives in Italy, Victor is more seduced by the local cuisine than by his fiancée. She sets off on her own to explore the picturesque streets of Verona and discovers a wonderfully romantic ritual at the house where Romeo's Juliet is said to have lived: hopeless lovers leave love messages stuck in the brickwork, which are then answered by a group of women who call themselves Juliet's secretaries. Sophie is immediately taken with this tradition and offers to help the women. And that's how she comes across a nearly fifty-year-old letter forgotten in the masonry that a Claire from England once left there. Claire writes of the love of her life, Lorenzo, whom she met and fell in love with on a study trip. But since his parents would never have approved of a relationship between the Italian and the Englishwoman, Claire has set off on her journey home with a broken heart - not, of course, without first leaving a letter to Julia. And it is now, five decades later, being answered by Sophie.

What Sophie didn't count on: Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) travels to Verona with her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) to search for her lost love. And while snobby Charlie is not at all thrilled about his grandmother chasing a dream that can only end sadly, romantic Sophie immediately agrees to help Claire find her Lorenzo again. What she doesn't yet know is that she will also learn a lot about true love on this journey...

"Letters to Julia" is a no-holds-barred cheesy love romance that serves up every old-fashioned, worn-out cliché and doesn't even have a single original moment to offer at the end. And yet the whole thing is simply endearing, charming and beautiful. So already the beautiful shots of sunny Italy invite you to dream and rave. And in this scenery the movie doesn't try to be anything else than a light romantic comedy without high expectations. Admittedly, the whole thing is a bit naive and cheesy, but it's also beautiful enough to melt away.

Although Amanda Seyfried can't keep up with the as always sovereign and great acting Vanessa Redgrave, the young actress does a damn good job as a hopeless romantic. Christopher Egan, best known in this country for his role in the fantasy flick "Eragon", plays a role that Hugh Grant might have played a few years ago. Egan doesn't come close to Grant's mischievous charm, but since he and Seyfried have great chemistry, this is of little negative consequence.

"Letters to Julia" is a film for all those viewers who simply like to sob, pine and dream without restraint in the cinema and don't necessarily need the most original merchandise to do so, but are content with the old familiar. Sympathetic actors, a dreamlike scenery and romance in abundance - all this makes Gary Winick's love story absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp