Friday 3 January 2014
Cast: Gerard Butler, Hillary Swank, Harry Connick Jr.
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese
Today I am going to write about the 2007 Richard LaGravenese film P.S. I Love you based on the book of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. This story has a couple where the man expresses his love for his wife even after his death.
Time changes everything in a relationship, attitude towards life, priorities or even people involved in it, but one thing that sticks is Love. Love never change.
For the first 15 minutes, we see Holly [Hillary Swank] and Gerry [Gerard Butler] arguing over some silly issue, still loving each other passionately, before the end of the night. We see a 9 year old married couple, an optimistic Gerry and a restless yet loving Holly, for they are still not totally settled considering their financial stature.
The next scene, we find out that Gerry has died because of a brain tumor and a little funeral ceremony is going on, that’s when we realize this film is not about a whining wife and a playful husband, but something sad but more romantic than that.
The lead actors, Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler have done a fantastic job and looks totally in love with each other; I guess this was their only film together, so the casting was well improvised.
After Gerry dies, Holly receives letters from Gerry, which he scheduled in a way that it will reach Holly only when he is no more. Each letter asks Holly to do a certain thing, like celebrate her birthday, go to a karaoke, get dressed properly for a girls night out and a few more so that Holly could stop mourning for Gerry’s departure and move on.
Emotionally, it will make you feel sad but romantic; logically, the same set of events will make you feel depressed and may be weird about love. It depends on how you choose to address this story, using your heart or the brain.
My favorite part of the film is when Holly returns from Gerry’s funeral and make consecutive calls to their basic phone only to listen to Gerry's voice mails on the answering machine, meanwhile trying to get some sleep. You may wet your eyes there.
PS I love you has beautiful songs, the kind, you keep with you in your music collection. “I love you till the end” is perhaps the one I believe is the signature song of this film.
This film was way too long, they could have told the same story in an hour and 30 minutes. You "cannot" watch PS I Love You twice [not at least in a year], it lacks the charm we felt while watching "The Notebook" or "A Walk to Remember." Apart from that, it was a pretty decent film.
Some say, it’s a tearjerker film, others say, it’s a romantic comedy, I’d say it’s plain Romance between a woman and the memories she has of her deceased husband and everything that follows. You don’t have to feel sad for Gerry’s departure or have pity on Holly’s solitude. Just respecting the writer’s idea of portraying love will do.
Movie Geek's Ratings: ★★★½
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Now this happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. I have sobbed like a baby i through this movie and fell in love multiple times. This one was exceptional and in no way did I find it depressing. This one gave me hope!
ReplyDeleteI actually like this film and it is very romantic, just it makes me feel sad... and thus HOPE is not the word I would say..!! Nevertheless, I gave it a 7 out of 10 :)
DeleteNever seen it, probably never will after that review.. I must say I am a die hard fanatic for The Notebook and A Walk to Remember. So knowing that this movie lacks the finesse those two terrific book turned movies has -- well... it is not a movie I feel I will miss out on. Thank you for the great post!
ReplyDeleteSee, if you are into the romantic genre, I would still recommend PS I Love you, everybody who likes the romance genre loves it on the first viewing at least...
DeleteI may now have to see it again just to reconfirm my stance on it again. I think the Notebook is one of my favorite movies of this type.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice film... I am only saying it is not as finely made as "A walk to remember" and "The Notebook"
DeleteI loved PS I Love You. I found it romantic and sweet and like Kajal, I found it gave me hope. Dropping by from UBC.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice film... I am only saying it is not as finely made as "The Notebook"
DeleteOh, this is definitely one of my favorite standby movies, and the soundtrack is fantastic. I agree it is not the caliber of "The Notebook" but it definitely is not two hours wasted!
ReplyDeletethe soundtrack is one of my favorites... !!
DeleteNice review :) Well,for starters please don't look for me and hit me for this comment. hehe! :P But honestly, when I read this book I cannot go past the first 4 chapters it is highly depressing given the fact that I am highly prone to sadness and apply logics in almost everything. So, I gifted it to a friend who loves the movie and was wanting to read the book. Honestly, I did not read the book till this day. When I watched the movie (with no choice left because my cousin insisted that I watch it). First, I cannot stand Hillary Swank, although she is a good actor I cannot stand her and then I found the whole movie stupid (sorry, but I cannot find a better/decent word to explain it). Moving on and letting go is a process and in my opinion you cannot push it to happen it occurs naturally. This guy dies and wants the girl to move on, you first leave her alone! Instead, you are flooding her with your memories when she is already drowning in it and making her life miserable. His letter comes everytime she wants to move on she ends up crying. Is that what you want? Make your girl cry because she is not able to forget you? Come on! The guy had brain tumour and probably failed to use his brain here! I never liked this movie because I found it totally illogical. Even if I am head on heels in love with someone I will not find it cute, sweet, adorable or lovely because love is about being happy and floating in the dreams of being together it is not about depression, tears and separation. I will give it to you for the nice review :) Well done.
ReplyDeleteOkay mademoiselle... can I re-post this comment as a new blogpost :P BTW Gayathri, this is not that bad a film, just not the best...!!
DeleteYes! You can :D and don't forget to give the credits to me!
DeleteThis is one of my favourite all time movies. Reminder to self - watch it today. I have the DVD.
ReplyDelete