Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried) is fact-checker at a magazine who aspires to be a writer. She and her fiancé Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal) decide to take a premarital honeymoon to Verona, the beautiful city of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet. But as soon as they arrive, he gets busy setting up meetings with wine-sellers, chefs, and others who may be able to give him an edge in his plans to open a new restaurant in New York City. With nothing to do but see the tourist attractions, Sophie stumbles across a courtyard where thousands of women and girls have left letters to Juliet requesting advice or answers on their affairs of the heart. She finds a group of women who write back to these seekers of love and is asked to join them.
Hidden away in the wall of the courtyard, Sophie discovers a 50-year-old letter written to Juliet from Claire Smith about a young Italian she fell in love with when she was a teenager. The romantic American writes Claire in England and suggests she return to Verona to try to find her long-lost love.
When this grandmother (Vanessa Redgrave) arrives in the city with her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), Sophia is pleasantly surprised. Since Victor is away again on business, she decides to join Claire in her quest to find Lorenzo in Tuscany. It turns out to be quite a daunting task given that there are 74 persons in the region with that name.
Claire is a beautiful, generous, and graceful soul who vividly recalls the young man who swept her away so long ago. Of course, she regrets leaving Lorenzo and now wants to connect with him once more. Charlie is very critical of his grandmother's quest and wants to protect her from the pain of disappointment. But his jaded views on romance are not appreciated by either Sophie or Claire. He ridicules the American for using both "awesome" and "Oh, my God" in the same sentence. Despite the wall of hostility he erects between them, Sophia wonders whether destiny has thrown them together for some mysterious purpose.
Letters to Juliet is directed by Gary Winick with a screenplay by Jose Rivera (Academy Award nominee for The Motorcycle Diaries) and Tim Sullivan. This extremely melodramatic film will appeal to those who agree with the Greek proverb "The heart that loves is always young." The beauty and charm of Vanessa Redgrave as Claire makes it easy for us to cheer her on in her quest for the impossible dream. It is enchanting to see an elderly woman so appealingly presented on the screen instead of being an object of ridicule or pity. It is also a pleasure to watch Amanda Seyfried's Sophie develop as a writer but somewhat disappointing to see where her own quest for love ends up. Nonetheless, we recommend Letters to Juliet for all those who relish romantic adventures. The Italian cities and countrysides make a beautiful backdrop to this story.
Special features include audio commentary with Amanda Seyfried and director Gary Winick; deleted and extended scenes; and featurettes "The Making of Letters to Juliet: In Italia" and "A Courtyard in Verona."
