Love is a wondrous thing, and yet
few films really capture its true essence. Romantic comedies and dramas are
often seen as inferior offerings but make no mistake, Lone Scherfig's follow-up
to An Education is superior in its
scope and realistic portrayal of love. One
Day aptly describes the film as we meet Dexter and Emma on July 15th of
every year over a two decade period to see the evolution of their friendship.
At first they appear as two seemingly opposite people, Em with her poetry and
intellectualism and Dex with his charming and hedonistic personality. But by film's end they have changed
dramatically in both appearance and demeanor, to us as well as one another.
The film is sequential, which at
times may seem boring but presenting it in any other way would have spoiled the
final reveal for the viewers. Sturgess and Hathaway are in full control of
their characters and seamlessly make the transition of playing twenty
something's to full grown adults. Recognition should be granted to the make-up
department who have done some of the best work I have seen in recent memory by
thoroughly convincing audience members that thirty year olds can appear twenty
and forty respectively.
Scherfig crafts the film so
beautifully without making it pretentious. The setting of London is a nice
choice as the film highlights the splendor of the city, much like Annie Hall did for New York. One Day isn't meant to be a crowd pleaser;
I highly suspect that most patrons leaving the theater will be either elated or
disappointed. In the end, that's
refreshing as it doesn't follow the mold of a typical romantic film. One Day captures the true honesty of
love, both for better and for worse.
