Reviews
Film Review: P.S. I Love You
4th February 2008
When the initial trailers started running for this film, thousands of women and girls all over the country were already familiar with this love story. Not because of undying love between a woman and her dead husband, but because it was originally one of Cecelia Ahern’s hugely successful novels, described as modern-day fairy tales. I had also previously read the book, so I had a basic idea of what to expect – but, unfortunately the film didn’t live up to these expectations.
The film follows the life of Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) and, for the beginning of the film anyway, the very short life of her adored Irish husband Gerry (Gerrard Butler aka the Phantom of the Opera). After his character is cruelly taken from Holly when he dies of a brain tumour, every month for the next year he mysteriously arranges heartfelt letters to her, guiding and helping her way through her new life, and teaching her she can do things she never thought possible without him. The little tasks he sets for her (some funny, some useful and some just enduringly painful) include things like taking part in a local karaoke competition, getting rid of most of his possessions and taking a trip back to Ireland, where the couple first met. If it hasn’t yet become apparent, each letter to her ends with the line ‘P.S. I Love You’.
Described as a romantic comedy, I did feel that it lacked in laughable moments, but instead, should definitely be heralded a ‘chick flick’ – this is one for the girls. If, like me, you have read the book, disappointment is inevitable as with most film adaptations. The main drawback is a confusing difference in the background of the story in the film, compared to the book. Ahern’s version is based around Holly’s large stable Irish family; but in the film, Gerry is portrayed as the Irish figure, meaning that the whole setting of the film has been switched to America, leaving behind the romanticism created in Ahern’s book. The way Ireland is briefly depicted is slightly clichéd, and Holly ends up randomly sleeping with William (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), her late husband’s best friend.
Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe in ‘Friends’) and Harry Connick Jnr (jazz musician) also star as Holly’s much needed friends who are concerned for her well-being as she craves her dead husband’s next messages, which they all know will soon come to an end. Holly, however, is in disbelief at how quickly they seem to be moving on and leaving her behind.
Don’t worry, this film isn’t just an hour and a half of self-pitying doom and gloom; it’s proof (well, maybe not quite proof, this is fiction!) that although people do learn to move on, true love never dies – or at least the words don’t anyway.
Fiona Rogoff