Letters to Juliet is a 2010 American romantic drama film starring Amanda Seyfried, Chris Egan, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael García Bernal, and Franco Nero. This was the final film of director Gary Winick. The film was released theatrically in North America and other countries on May 14, 2010. The idea for the film was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction book, "Letters to Juliet", by Lise Friedman and Ceil Friedman, which chronicles the phenomenon of letter writing to Shakespeare's most famous romantic heroine.

Plot

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is a young American woman who works for The New Yorker as a fact checker. To put some spark in her life, she decides to go on a 'pre-honeymoon' with her chef fiancé Victor (Gael García Bernal) to Verona, Italy. However the workaholic Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and utilizes 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 a Claire Smith from 1957—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 (Chris Egan), who works for human rights.

Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other with Charlie behaving very brusquely 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 (Franco Nero). Sophie, thinking Claire's story might help her with her writing career, decides to help Claire in her quest. What happens next is a story of romantic twists and turns. They find out that there are multiple Lorenzo Bartolinis and must figure out which one is Claire's love. After many days of searching for the right one, they find that one of the Lorenzo Bartolinis is dead. An angry Charlie blames Sophie for his grandmother's sadness. He accuses her of not knowing what real loss is, which causes an upset Sophie to walk away. 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 insists that Charlie apologize to Sophie at breakfast, and he does. After dinner, Sophie goes out with Charlie and talks to him about love, and the two share a kiss. The next morning, is their last day of searching for Claire's long lost love. On a whim, Claire points out a vineyard to Charlie and asks if he could stop by so the three of them can have a farewell drink for Sophie. As Charlie drives down the road, Claire sees a young man who looks exactly like her Lorenzo. She yells at Charlie to stop, and he complies. They discover that the man is Lorenzo Bartolini's grandson. Claire and Lorenzo reunite after fifty long years.

Back in New York, Sophie breaks up with Victor before returning to Verona to attend Claire and Lorenzo's wedding. She finds Charlie there with another woman, Patricia, and runs out. Charlie comes to find her (in a classic balcony setting) and she admits she loves him, but tells him to go back to his date. Telling Sophie that the woman was actually his cousin Patricia, not his ex-girlfriend Patricia, he tells her he loves her and wants to be with her. He accidentally falls off the balcony and they kiss as he is lying on the ground.

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 decides 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.^[3]
• 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 the Juliet's secretaries' kitchen's recipes.
• Luisa Ranieri as Isabella, one of the four original Juliet's secretaries.
• Marina Massironi as Francesca, one of Juliet's secretaries.
• Lydia Biondi as Donatella, one of Juliet's secretaries.
• Milena Vukotic as Maria, one of Juliet's secretaries.
• Oliver Platt as Bobby, the editor of The New Yorker.
• Daniel Baldock as Lorenzo Jr., the older of Lorenzo's sons.
• Stefano Guerrini as Lorenzo III, grandson of Lorenzo.
• Ashley Lilley as Patricia, Charlie's cousin who has the same name as his ex-girlfriend.
• Luisa De Santis as Angelina, Isabella's mother.

Release and reception

Critical reception

Letters to Juliet received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 40% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 146 reviews, with an average score of 5.1/10. Metacritic gave it an average score of 50 out of 100 from the 34 reviews it collected.

Box office

Letters to Juliet opened at #3 to $13,540,486 behind Iron Man 2's second weekend and Robin Hood.^[4] In its second weekend, the film dropped 33.5% with $9,006,266 into #4.^[5] The film eventually has grossed $53,032,453 domestically and $79,181,750 worldwide.^[2]

Soundtrack Lists

• "You Got Me" – Colbie Caillat
• "Chianti Country"
• "Verona" – Andy Georges
• "Un Giorno Così" – 883
• "Per Avere Te" – Franco Morselli
• "Quando, Quando, Quando" – Laura Jane (as Lisa Jane) and Chris Mann
• "Variations On A Theme By Mozart" – from The Magic Flute, Opus 9
• "Sospesa" – Malika Ayane and Pacifico
• "Per Dimenticare" – Zero Assoluto
• "Sono Bugiarda (I'm A liar)" – Caterina Caselli
• "Guarda Che Luna" – Fred Buscaglione
• "Love Story" – Taylor Swift
• "What If" – Colbie Caillat

References

External links

• Official website
• Letters to Juliet at the Internet Movie Database
• Letters to Juliet at AllRovi
• Letters to Juliet at Rotten Tomatoes
• Letters to Juliet at Box Office Mojo