juliet

letters to juliet. i saw this movie while on my way to bangkok. a tale of a young lady who's about to get married and went on a pre-wedding trip to italy. sophie, played by amanda seyfried, chanced upon a group of women who answers "letters to juliet". she answered her first letter, which was hidden behind the old bricks and was written some four decades ago. this led her to claire (vanessa redgrave), who decided to come to italy and look for her lorenzo... somewhere in the italian heartland of vineyard.

nothing eventful about the road trip that commenced after sophie and claire's meeting. it was more of building the love story of sophie and charlie, claire's grandson, as well as showing how sophie's relationship with victor (gael garcia bernal) disintegrated as victor pursues his dream of setting up his own restaurant back at home. while i already know that claire would eventually find lorenzo, it was the older redgrave's presence that illuminated the screen. i vividly remember how her close up shot towards the end of the movie, atonement, and how painful to look back at what her character might have committed.

seyfried felt like she was doing ala-amy adams in enchanted and she still had that mamma mia air even if this movie was entirely a different thing. bernal was under utilized, left to dabble supposedly with his single mindedness over his resto, while disenfranchising his fiancee altogether... just the usual premise of a chick flick. in the end, sophie left victor and went to attend claire and lorenzo's wedding, where she ended with charlie. happy ending. oh well. good thing, i just had my third serving of that roll and apple juice. (",)

Sophie: I didn't go to him, Juliet. I didn't go to Lorenzo. His eyes were so full of trust I promised I'd meet him and run away together because my parents don't approve. But, instead, I left him waiting for me below our tree - waiting and wondering where I was. I'm in Veronoa now. I return to London in the morning and I am so afraid. Please, Juliet tell me what I should do. My heart is breaking and I have no one else to turn to. Love, Claire.

Claire: Dear Claire, What and If are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? I don't know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like - love to leave loved ones for, love to cross oceans for but I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, that I will have the courage to seize it. And, Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will. All my love, Juliet.