2023 Movie
Dir. Andy Fickman · Czech Republic, Germany · English, Spanish
A tonally confused romance adaptation that tries to speed through the novel’s realizations
There’s no way to escape it– the plotline of One True Loves feels like the other side of Cast Away (2000), but instead of focusing on the survival aspect, it focuses on the wife trying to move on with grief. The original novel portrays Emma moving on through reclaiming her past, and learning to appreciate the roots she’s tried to forget with her lost husband. However, the film adaptation falters in depicting the personal, inner world of Emma, as it bungles through the timelines with Hallmark-esque quotes and disarranged scenes. It tries to save the film through its star-studded cast, but their decent performances can’t save the way the film is structured.
Emma and Jesse are living the perfect life together, until Jesse disappears in a tragic helicopter crash on their first wedding anniversary. Four years later, Emma has found happiness again and is about to marry her best friend when Jesse resurfaces, turning her world upside down and leaving her torn between two great loves.
Four years after her husband Jesse disappears in a helicopter crash, Emma is ready to move on to marry her childhood best friend Sam. However, Jesse turns out to be alive, making her torn between the two.
One True Loves is based on a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, primarily focusing from Emma’s perspective. Because of this, there was always going to be some difficulty in portraying the full story, considering that it has to shift the stream of consciousness, and the novel has three separate sections: Emma and Jesse’s love story, Emma and Sam’s love story, and the way Emma tries to navigate it. That being said, this could have been a three-part mini-series so that they can actually delve deep into the drama, instead of shifting the timelines ever so often and intercutting Emma and Jesse’s discussion with Sam’s slightly comedic breakdown. Limiting the runtime limits the dramatic potential for the story, and it shows with how the film tries to rush realizations through sappy Hallmark-esque quotes.
Why can’t this be a mini-series?!
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
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