My Oxford Year review
Cast: Sofia Carson, Corey Mylchreest, Dougray Scott, Poppy Gilbert, Harry Trevaldwyn
Director: Iain Morris
Star rating: ★★★
The magic of discovering a good rom-com is not to be taken lightly. I think one knows that this is going to be a good one when they find themselves smiling sheepishly as the romance- often cheesy and unabashedly lush- begins to take shape through the first interactions and stolen glances. The predictability leads the way. What’s the point if these two beautiful-looking people can’t fall in love? Of course they will! We like that it is predictable. My Oxford Year- the new Netflix offering- has all of these qualities. It is sweet and wonderfully romantic without trying to be obvious. But then it gets obvious, and that adds to the charm (and sobs). (Also read: One Day review: Netflix hits gold with beautiful, decades-spanning love story)
The premise
Adapted from the novel by Julia Whelan, My Oxford Year begins with the arrival of Anna (Sofia Carson), an ambitious and pragmatic woman from Queens at Oxford. This is her year off, which she wants to spend surrounded by the walls and poetic rush that Oxford promises with her degree in Victorian Poetry. She starts off like a fish out of water amid the crowd, particularly with Jamie (Corey Mylchreest), who then turns out to be the doctoral student given the job to take the course. He doesn’t know what else to do than say sorry for splashing water with her car. She doesn’t want to be reminded of that disappointment in the first place. But there’s a spark. It guides these two souls into a journey that will change their lives forever.
But as the poets would say, forever is only meant to be comprised of moments. My Oxford Year starts off quite confidently (and poetically) and then lets off the steam with a twist that quickly transfers the tone of the romance from sweet to soapy, and then melodramatic. For fans of the book, the pill is not just tough to digest. But for the rest, the adaptation takes a bittersweet limp and progresses in a scattershot way. Jamie’s intentions become clearer, and that is played out beautifully in a scene that is entirely focused on Carson’s face.
What works
Styled to perfection, the actor gives a confident performance here, powering through the shaky bits of the narrative in the second half when the revelations pull off a little too fast. Carson manages to piece together bits and pieces of Anna’s emotional dexterity so that the viewer always knows and sides with her. Mylchreest, so memorably good in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, is also very likeable here as the affable man learning to slow down when needed. He is so much more than a rich bloke with no guard about him. Mylchreest also nails the vulnerability that is so crucial to understanding Jamie. It is a tough job to step in, but the actor might just be this generation’s Hugh Grant.
My Oxford Year is boosted with terrific editing work by Victoria Boydell and Kristina Hetherington. This is a strong, loaded story even as the tone remains breezy and wandering, and the snappy cuts chart the many beats of Anna and Jamie’s relationship with a spring in its step. Iain Morris’s direction is also key to landing the romance just right, and stepping into the possibilities that their journey has to face.
It all leads predictably, but I am certain the film works despite those traces, because it’s too late not to fall for the romance by then. Be it a Tennyson poem, or be it a fleeting moment in a modern-day rom-com, you sit with that afterglow of realising that the world is a better place with some love sprinkled in. Gorgeously romantic and featherweight, My Oxford Year offers that wonderful glimpse; it leads its viewers to that afterglow. Savour it.
