The Last Letter from your Lover

The Last Letter from Your Lover: A confused study of long-term romance and quick hookups. 

By

Harini Chakrapani

The Last Letter from Your Lover follows an English reporter, Ellie Haworth’s (Felicity Jones) present-day investigation on some old love letters that reveal a clandestine affair in the 60s between an American housewife Jennifer Sterling (Shailene Woodley) and a reporter named Anthony O’Hare (Callum Turner). As Ellie pieces together events from the couple’s lives for a feature story on their forbidden love, she confronts her own sadness over a failed relationship and her fear of forming romantic attachments with men. 

Directed by Augustine Frizzell and based on JoJo Moyes’ 2008 novel of the same name, The Last Letter from Your Lover gets to the meat of the story quickly; Jennifer’s tryst is set against the backdrop of the French Riviera where she’s on holiday with her businessman spouse Larry Stirling (Joe Alwyn), whom Anthony’s sent to profile. When a pressing work trip takes Larry out of the picture, Jennifer and Anthony find themselves in each other’s company, building a bond through shared interests, and letter writing after they part. Jennifer is the stereotypical dutiful housewife trapped in a toxic marriage to a wealthy man who is controlling, neglectful, and misogynistic. Anthony not only gives her the attention she craves, but also respects her opinions; a motif that the film is mindful of throughout.  But instead of exploring more nuances to a healthy relationship, the script defaults to tropey romantic dates on sunlit beaches and scenic walkways, and mawkish admissions of love. But while the scenes are predictable and the characters one-dimensional, Woodley manages to shine with her emotive eyes and graceful performance. 

Ellie’s parallel story lacks the emotional highs and lows that permeate Jennifer’s. Ellie is a workaholic who doesn’t like talking about icky feelings. So, the scriptwriters introduce a romantic angle between her and her co-worker, Rory McCallan (Nabhaan Rizwan), an archivist who helps her find Jennifer’s letters. Their relationship is forced. Ellie literally falls from the ladder into Rory’s arms while looking for Jennifer’s letters in the archive room and later processes whether a drunken one-night stand she has with Rory meant something more to her--- an ugly contrast to Jennifer and Anthony’s poetic and timeless love. Still, Ellie is vital to the plot as she drives the mystery element of the film: are Jennifer and Anthony still around? Did they end up together? And unlike Jennifer's, her story strives to be more than just a maudlin ode to romantic love. 

The Last Letter from your Lover tries hard to floor you, setting up a Memento-like twist involving Jennifer who has memory lapses following an accident. The twist works, making your jaw drop, but only for a brief moment, until you realize how illogical it is. There are both divine and man-made machinations that control Jennifer’s married life with Larry and romantic attachment with Anthony, but Jennifer packs a meaner, girl-power punch when she chooses to carve her own path free from the dictates and desires of men. 

All this leads up to an enticing ending pregnant with suspense, dramatic music and a conundrum: Anthony still yearns for Jennifer but can she return his love after decades of separation?

The answer is predictable. Because of the film’s insufferable tropes and sappy songs of heartache and yearning, you know that it cannot resist one last cliché: love conquers all.