Letters to Juliet is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. This was the final film of director Gary Winick before his death on February 27, 2011. 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 is a young American woman who works for The New Yorker as a fact checker. She goes on a pre-honeymoon with her chef fiancé Victor to Verona, Italy. Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and uses his time to research his soon-to-open restaurant, often neglecting Sophie. Sophie discovers that thousands of letters to Juliet left in Juliet s Verona courtyard are typically answered by the Secretaries of Juliet . Sophie asks to join them and accidentally finds an unanswered letter by a Claire Smith from 1957. She answers it and within a week the now-elderly Claire arrives in Verona with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie Wyman. Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other, but Charlie and Sophie do not get along.

Following the advice in Sophie s reply, Claire decides to look for her long-lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. Sophie, thinking Claire s story might help her with her writing career and has genuine interest in the story, helps Claire. The two find out that there are seventy-four Lorenzo Bartolinis living in the area. After many days of searching for the right Lorenzo, they find that one is dead. Charlie blames Sophie for his grandmother s sadness. He accuses her of not knowing what real loss is. Claire, witnessing the dispute, tells Charlie that he was wrong and that Sophie s mother had walked away from her when she was a little girl.

The following day, Claire insists that Charlie apologize to Sophie at breakfast, which he does. After dinner, Sophie talks to Charlie about love, still believing Claire s Lorenzo is still alive, and the two kiss. The following morning is their last day of searching for Lorenzo. On a whim, Claire points out a vineyard to Charlie and asks if he could stop so they can have a farewell drink for Sophie. As Charlie drives down the road, Claire sees a young man who looks exactly like her Lorenzo. They discover the young man is Lorenzo Bartolini s grandson, and Claire and the elder Lorenzo reunite. When Sophie heads back to Verona, Claire pushes Charlie to pursue her, but he backs off when he sees Sophie with Victor.

Back in New York, exhausted by the differences and lack of passion in their relationship, Sophie breaks up with Victor before returning to Verona to attend Claire and Lorenzo s wedding. She finds Charlie with another woman, and runs out crying. Charlie comes out to find her, and she admits she loves him but tells him to go back to his girlfriend. Charlie reveals that the woman is his cousin and tells Sophie he loves her. He climbs up the vine to the balcony, recreating the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet, but accidentally falls down, and they kiss as he lies on the ground.

Cast

• Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Hall, a fact checker living in New York
• Christopher Egan as Charlie Wyman, Claire s grandson, who has trouble coming to terms with his grandmother loving anyone other than his late grandfather. His parents died in a car accident.
• Gael García Bernal as Victor, Sophie s chef fiancé who is easily preoccupied with anything having to do with food, cooking, and the opening of his restaurant.
• Vanessa Redgrave as Claire, the girl who wrote the letter to Juliet 50 years before, and is hoping to find her Lorenzo.
• Franco Nero as Lorenzo, Claire s love interest. Nero is Redgrave s real life husband. Roger Ebert, having interviewed both Nero and Redgrave on the set of Camelot in 1966 – where they met, fell in love, separated, then married 40 years later – noted how much of the love story between their characters is nearly autobiographical.
• Luisa Ranieri as Isabella, one of the four original Juliet s secretaries
• Marina Massironi as Francesca, one of Juliet s secretaries.
• Milena Vukotic as Maria, one of Juliet s secretaries.
• Luisa De Santis as Angelina, Isabella s mother.
• Lidia Biondi as Donatella, one of Juliet s secretaries.

In addition, Oliver Platt briefly appears as Sophie s boss in New York, while Stefano Guerrini makes a brief appearance as Lorenzo s grandson, who catches Claire s attention as he looks like Lorenzo once did.

Release and reception

Critical reception

Letters to Juliet received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has an approval rating of 42% based on 160 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site s critical consensus reads: Letters to Juliet has a refreshingly earnest romantic charm, but it suffers from limp dialogue and an utter lack of surprises. Metacritic gives it an average score of 50 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews .

The Guardian s Peter Bradshaw called the film cheerfully ridiculous , pointing out the differing accents from both Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan, but gave praise to Vanessa Redgrave for a likably, if not quite intentionally mad performance. Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle was also positive towards Redgrave, describing her performance as being elegant, clear-eyed and nurturing and noting that she commands the corniest dialogue to stand up and sound like poetry. Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News praised both Redgrave and Seyfried, saying the former brings a lovely gravity to the lightweight proceedings and the latter displays an unusually levelheaded presence. Roger Ebert was aware of the film s genre and how it operates but that he didn t care about that: I know the ending is preordained from the setup. I know the characters are broad and comforting stereotypes. In this case, I simply don t care. Sometimes we have personal reasons for responding to a film.

Bill Gibron from PopMatters criticized the film for having two conflicting stories where only one is interesting, characters that make idiotic decisions for the plot to progress and have little romantic chemistry together that results in a lack of emotional resonance for the viewers, saying that Letters to Juliet loses on all counts. It s not a comedy. It s barely romantic, and even the scenery looks filtered through a couple dozen attempts at post-production color timing (no nation is this…golden). Nick Schager of Slant Magazine was negative towards its cornball fairy-tale romanticism , criticizing the performances of Seyfried and Egan for having a prototypically bland rom-com heroine and being laughably phony in the material both given respectively, and found the plot to be of dime store novel-quality. Kyle Smith of the New York Post also saw the generic plot as straight and obvious as raw spaghetti , and gave half-hearted praise to the line delivery of Seyfried and Egan, saying they may be the perfect actors to carry out this assignment: Neither is embarrassable.

Box office

Letters to Juliet opened at #3 to $13,540,486 behind Iron Man 2 s second weekend and Robin Hood. In its second weekend, the film dropped 33.5% with $9,006,266 and with the arrival of Shrek Forever After the film slipped to #4. The film eventually grossed $53,032,453 domestically and $79,181,750 worldwide.

Soundtrack

• 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

Year	2010
ReleaseDate	2010-05-14
RuntimeMins	105
RuntimeStr	1h 45min
Plot	Sophie dreams of becoming a writer and travels to Verona, Italy where she meets the “Secretaries of Juliet”.
Awards	Awards, 6 nominations
Directors	Gary Winick
Writers	Jose Rivera, Tim Sullivan
Stars	Amanda Seyfried, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave
Produced by	Ellen Barkin,George Barkin,Mark Canton,Caroline Kaplan,Marco Valerio Pugini,Ron Schmidt
Music by	Andrea Guerra
Cinematography by	Marco Pontecorvo
Film Editing by	Bill Pankow
Casting By	Beatrice Kruger,Ellen Lewis,Cindy Tolan
Production Design by	Stuart Wurtzel
Art Direction by	Stefano Maria Ortolani,Saverio Sammali,Eugenio Ulissi
Set Decoration by	Alessandra Querzola
Costume Design by	Nicoletta Ercole
Makeup Department	Kymbra Callaghan,Desideria Corridoni,Robin Day,Marco Figliulo,Raffaella Iorio,Diane Mazur,Samuele Miccoli,Mario Michisanti,Mario Pegoretti,Julia Piearcey,Ryan Reed,Adel Saada,Rodolfo Sifari,Gino Tamagnini,Guilia Tamagnini,Carla Vicenzino
Production Management	Luca Fortunato Asquini,Alessandro Biraghi,Stefano Biraghi,Marzia Coltellacci,Antongiulio Dell Orco,Andrea Isaacs,Alessandro Manni,Rebecca Rivo,Jeff Robinson
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Mirashyam Blakeslee,Chris Carreras,Stella Delleani,Edoardo Ferretti,Marcos González Palma,Andrea Pagani,Matteo Parenti,Davide Sacchetti,Nick Shuttleworth,Alessia Silvetti,Jennifer Truelove,Clara Zuliani
Art Department	Madeline Austin-Kulat,Dario Badia,Francesca Birri,Mario Bordon,Gabu Camilo,Roberto Caruso,Leonardo Cruciano,Mandie DeMeskey,Sandro Ercolini,Veronica Gambacurta,Cristiano Gobbi,Sandra Jelmini,Christopher M. Lewis,Marco Lo Russo,Viviana Lo Russo,Aleksandr Lokensgard,Paolo Marasciulo,Jeff Mazzola,Alessandro Mele,Dana Neuwirth,Susan Raney,Jon Ringbom,Terence Doc Popolo Rubbio,Joseph Sargo,Paola Sforzini,Richard Tenewitz,Valentina Troccoli,Armando Vici,Claudio Villa,Robert Zorella
Sound Department	Maurizio Argentieri,Alexej Ashkenazy,Brian Bowles,Paul Capuano,Ryan Collison,Jerry Cox,Adriano Di Lorenzo,Romain Drouillon,Dan Edelstein,Robert Fernandez,Mariusz Glabinski,Marlena Grzaslewicz,Anguibe Guindo,Matthew Haasch,Ken Ishii,Eric McAllister,Vincenzo Nardi,Jay Peck,Mary Ellen Porto,Billy Theriot,Paul Yurt
Visual Effects by	Mathieu Archambault,Yogesh Badhe,Justin Ball,Sarah Barber,Yashwant Bombe,Leslie Chung,Craig Crawford,Molle DeBartolo,Harshal Deshpande,Ujwal W. Dhankute,Shaiju Ep,David Fix,Shivesh Gehlot,Parth Ghatge,Roopesh Gujar,Pravin Hodage,Vikram Kale,Sushil Kalyanshetti,Isabelle Langlois,Sarah McMurdo,Govind Mohan,Alejandro Monzon,Jesh Krishna Murthy,Kelly Noordermeer,Andrea Papaleo,Riaz Patel,Abhijit Patil,David Piombino,Khatal Prajakta,Sebastien Proulx,Rajeev Kumar Rastogi,Saurabh Raut,Tyagi Reetuj,Paul Saint-Hilaire,Mohit Salunke,Mag Sarnowska,Vinod Sathe,Sachin Satpute,Justin Smith,Ravindra Tamhankar,Pawan Tetu,Abu Thahir,Kamal Kumar Tiwari,Peter Toufidis,Chris Pinkus Wesselman,Alex Yalakidis,Jun Zhang,Kushal Panchbhai
Stunts	Giorgio Antonini,Jacqueline Freda,Franco Maria Salamon
Camera and Electrical Department	Gianni Aldi,Giovanni Antonini,Myles Aronowitz,Massimo Barbona,Roberto Barbona,Fabio Bolli,Kevin Cahill,Michael Cambria,Vincent Camuto Jr.,Franco Caporale,Vincenzo Carpineta,Mario Carradori,Fabio Ciotto,Francesco Dato,Jon Delgado,Roberto Diamanti,David Dutkus,Corey Eisenstein,Andrea Fioravanti,Antonio Fortunati,Antonio Gasbarini,David Giorgio,Iolanda Greci,John Johnson,Michael J. Kammerer,Colin Keech,Meg Kettell,John Krause,Daniel Luebke,John Mazzola,Guido Mestre,Ryan Minelli,Eric Moynier,Aldo Napoleoni,Ernesto Natoli,Evan C. Newell,Maritza Norr,Sami Novelli,Tod Olivieri,Andrew Peck,Giorgio Perluigi,Carlo Quattrone,Francesco Quattrone,Massimo Rinella,Alessandro Rossi,Gerard Sava,Joseph Sciretta,Claudio Serantoni,Charles Sherron,Richie Sherron,Enrico Stella,Chris Studley,Eric Swanek,Luciano Teolis,Paolo Tiberti,Pietro Tiberti,Alberto Torrecilla,Daniele Traettino,Angelo Trionfera,Flavio Tucci,Perry Unjang,Rory Walsh,Glen Weinstein,John Woods,Aldo Chessari,Davide Zanetti
Casting Department	Matteo Bertocchi,Heather Comer,Veronika Mancino,Cristina Raffaeli,Marco Tosti,Deanna Gallucio Young,David H. Kramer
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Angela Beale,Giovanni Casalnuovo,Vanessa Crane,Lynne Maureen Curtis,Ginevra De Carolis,Colleen Morris Glennon,Alessandro Guida,Rebecca Higginson,Enrica Iacoboni,Kortney Lawlor,Aissatou Parks,Enzo Serafino Pellegrino,Eli Weiss
Editorial Department	Marcus Alexander,Victoria Anderson,Corey Bayes,Pete Conlin,Joe Gawler,Jonathan Hoffman,Nazzareno Neri,Richie Roefaro,Jonathan Sanden,Darrell R. Smith,Alex Yalakidis,Leslie Adkins-Garza,Tricia Chiarenza
Location Management	Alessandro Bicci,Andrea Carnevale,Daniele Di Biasi,Nicola Fedrigoni,Megan Foerster,Dave Ginsberg,Enrico Latella,Jess Magee,Marco Milani,Francesca Nannini,Daniel Pollack,Domenico Maria Porcelli,Julie Sage,Giuseppe Scarpulla,Leonardo Semplici,Simona Serafini,Steven Weisberg,Valentina Zanella
Music Department	Christine Bergren,Mark Berrow,Thomas Bowes,Jo Buckley,Giovanni Ciombolini,Antongiulio Frulio,Goffredo Gibellini,Ermanno Giorgetti,John Houlihan,Paul Katz,Annette Kudrak,Luca Salvadori,Matteo Schiavio,Lauren Shotwell,Sally Swisher,Elif Uluhan,Allen Walley,Bruce White,Frank Wolf,Rachel Bolt,Ben Foster,Jeremy Murphy
Script and Continuity Department	Charlotte Fontijn
Transportation Department	Gabor Agoston,David Buckman,Jim Buckman,Adriano Ceccolini,Giovanni Cosi,Patrick Gentilezza,Steven R. Guglielmetti,Fabio Moretti,Riccardo Mostarda,Luciano Plescia,Roberto Ratini,Massimiliano Rocchetti,Bruno Roddi,Matteo Rubbio,Massimiliano Simotti,Fabio Vita
Additional Crew	Ramona Adair,Stephen Ananicz,Angela Anvil,Peter Arpesella,Diana Ascher,Randall Balsmeyer,Alexander Barrow,Eric R. Bellamy,Ira Berlowitz,Diego Biello,Scott Bowers,Jamie Buckner,Renee Burke,Lisa Burrascano,Lorenzo Caccialanza,Valentina Castellani,Alessia Cecchet,June Christopher,Carmela Compagnone,Flavio De Simone,Antonio Del Prete,Stella Delleani,Gjustina Dushku,Steven Eddy,Brooke Ensign,D.R. Farquharson,Willy Faso,Erik Feig,Tommaso Ferrari,Shayne Fiske,Anastasia Folorunso,Mark Frazier,Jacqueline Freda,Elisa Gabrielli,Irene Gerardi,Nicholas Guest,Michael J. Harker,Pam Holdridge,Joshua Huffman,Jerrold McKinley Ivery,Quanita Johnson,Alessandra Kieffer,Katie Kramer,April Lamb,David Laurentin,Luisa Leschin,Adam Levy,Andrew Lipschultz,Giovanni Lopez,Anthony Lote,Carlotta Manzoli,Carlotta Migliorini,Meredith Milton,Liz Modena,Stefania Monetti,Jonathan Nichols,Greg Nye,David B. Oliver,Enrico Pacciani,Martitia Palmer,Diego Daniel Pardo,Mike Park,Dustin Pownall,Patrizia Prencipe,Camilla Pugini,Francesco Quinn,Lynne Redding,Benjamin R. Reder,Mike Reiersen,M. Ross-Michaels,Maria Russo,Janna Rykova,Howard Samuelsohn,John Skidmore,William Paul Smith,Margherita Stammati,Todd Steiner,Valentina Testa,Andrea Tolomei,Carlo Tozzi,Roman Wyden,Eric Kops,Regan B. Pederson,Matthew J. Vince
Thanks	Stefano Dindo,Ceil Friedman,Lise Friedman,Pascal Vicedomini
Genres	Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Companies	Summit Entertainment, Applehead Pictures
Countries	USA
Languages	English, Italian, Spanish
ContentRating	PG
ImDbRating	6.5
ImDbRatingVotes	100305
MetacriticRating	50
Keywords	writer,starring real life couple,vineyard,verona italy,female protagonist