"'What' and ‘if’ .....two words as nonthreatening as words come. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: ‘What if?'..."
I will say, predictable. But yet I watched.....and waited to see each scene unfold anyway. Sometimes I'm in the mood for movies like this, where you are reminded time and again, that "true love does not have an expiration date". I'm rarely moved to tears while watching a romantic movie. This is not because I'm not a lover of romance, quite the opposite actually. And maybe tonight I was in acceptance mode, I don't know. But destiny.....that word seemed to be flashing above that movie screen in neon lights. Do I believe in destiny? I do, but I also think your choices combined with circumstances play a huge role in the outcome. Fate may lend you a hand, but you have to play the hand. If you fold, well......fate tried, right?
For myself, there is no way I can watch a movie like this and not think about my own choices along the way. I'm a girl, come on. =)
Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, finds herself in Italy on what could be a honeymoon, yet she isn't married yet. In a fictional lover's Verona courtyard, she finds a fifty year old unanswered letter to "Juliet" behind a brick in a wall of hundreds of them. Because she has already made friends with a group of women who call themselves "Juliets Secretaries" she decides to answer this particular letter herself. That's what these women do, they collect the letters that are placed on that brick wall, where people have visited in droves each day, and answer them, one.by.one. I SO want that job. You're answering someone's question of, "I love, what do I do?" I don't know if I would always have the right answer for them. But I know I would enjoy trying to find it.
The kind of relationship Sophie has with her fiance, Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal) becomes apparent immediately. At least it did for me. It reminded me of something I said to a friend once, and this is not my own quote mind you. "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference". (Elie Wiesel)
I know movie reviews usually tell the entire story, but I don't want to do that here.
Sophie replies to Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) the writer of the letter she found: (excerpt)
"I don't know how your story ended. But I know that if what you felt then was love - true love - then
it's never too late. If it was true then it why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to
follow your heart..."
And so it goes. The quest to find Claire's true love. Fifty years after she walked away from him without explanation. If you like this kind of story, you're going to love this movie like I did. Don't go in thinking you already have it figured out though....
See you soon. If there is any way we can have an Italian breakfast I think we should. Google Italia!
Tiffany
