Life is in the sticky bits

We went to see the movie Letters to Juliet this past week. Skeptics will say, just another typical chic flick and in many ways it is. Except this chic-flick stars Vanessa Redgrave and this puts the movie in a class all it's own. Redgrave plays a grandmother who takes a trip to Italy searching for a long lost love. She has never looked more beautiful and her acting gives the movie a substance romantic comedies often lack. I remembered Redgrave playing Guinevere in Camelot and in this film she is even more lovely. Quite a feat for a 73 year old. I read her bio on Wikipedia after I saw the film and she is a remarkable woman and actress, not afraid to take risks or be controversial when it comes to what she believes in. She made the role she plays in this little film touchingly sweet and softly strong.

I love the New Yorker magazine and they loved Letters to Juliet. I thought this may be a good omen for bringing (dragging) my husband to a chic flick. He has still not forgiven me for taking him to see Johnny Depp in a musical. I lost all credibility. But he came with me and I, being a chic, was not disappointed. Harry thought Redgrave was great, but he thought the young actors had terrible diction. Ah well... The opening scenes of the movie take place in the offices of the New Yorker magazine in New York City. There we meet Sophie, a young fact checker for the magazine who dreams of someday writing for the New Yorker. I found her adorable, bad diction and all.

The movie is based on a 2007 book about the group of women who answer the letters left on the wall beneath Juliet's famous balcony in Verona. This reminded me of the wailing wall in Jerusalem where people write their prayers and stick them in the wall's crevices hoping God will answer. I am not sure how long the leaving letters for Juliet has gone on but it is rather charming tradition. With a return address you get a personal response to your romantic woes from "Juliet." (Has God thought of this? Maybe people should start putting their return addresses on those wailing wall notes.)

Sophie and her Italian fiance are taking a trip together to Italy, a sort of a pre-honeymoon. While in Italy our heroine realizes she is in the wrong relationship. The boyfriend is more obsessed with opening his new restaurant in New York City and making food related contacts in Italy than he is with her. The movie is sprinkled with romance and heartbreak for both the old and young characters and though the young folks are lovely and interesting, Redgrave sweeps you away with her grace and style. She makes getting old look good. Only a very good actress can do that.

The young Englishman who plays Redgrave's grandson becomes angry with Sophie telling her that she has made his Grandmother's already difficult life full of more sticky bits. Redgrave corrects him, "life is the sticky bits," she says. Besides Redgrave, the best part of the movie is seeing the northern Italian countryside around Verona and Siena. It is absolutely breathtaking!

So if you have been feeling like a little romantic Italian get-a-way would be nice, and you are short on cash or time, this could be the chic flick for you! Just try your best to ignore the bad diction.