"Seize this thing that is real, and true, and infinite. Yes, it is scary. But I believe living a life is worse. We could be happy."
— Anthony O'Hare
The Last Letter from Your Lover is a 2021 romantic drama film directed by Augustine Frizzell. It is adapted from the book of the same name by Jojo Moyes.
Modern-day journalist Ellie (Felicity Jones) and archivist Rory (Nabhaan Rizwan) stumble across letters that tell the story of a fateful affair between Jennifer Sterling (Shailene Woodley) and Anthony O'Hare (Callum Turner) in 1960s Europe.
It was released on Netflix in the US and other territories on July 23, 2021, and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia later in the year.
The Last Tropes from Your Lover:
- Affair Letters: The basis of the plot. Jenny and Anthony wrote letters to each other throughout their relationship.
- While Jenny was amnesiac, her husband Lawrence found the letters chronicling her affair with Anthony and hid them in his study. When she confronts him about it, he lies that Anthony died in the car accident to throw her off.
- When Jenny tries to take flight with Anthony years later and misses him, she leaves the letters with the London Chronicle, which is where Ellie finds them decades later.
- Affectionate Nickname: In the letters that chronicle their affair, Jenny and Anthony refer to each other as "J" and "Boots".
- Caught in the Rain: At one point early in their affair, Anthony and Jenny scramble to the car in the middle of a rainstorm, leading to a romantic moment.
- December–December Romance: Implied Trope. The film ends on Anthony and Jenny reuniting in their old age, and while we never see if they work out, they never got over each other, are clearly more than happy to see each other again and reminisce on the time they spent together.
- Easy Amnesia: The beginning shows that Jenny was in a car accident and doesn't remember her life before it. When she bumps into Anthony again four years later, the memories come rushing back.
- Epigraph: The film opens with a line from A Farewell to Arms: "Why, darling, I don't live at all when I'm not with you."
- The Film of the Book: A movie adaptation of the novel The Last Letter from Your Lover.
- Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: Played With. Anthony cheated on his wife in the backstory and this is seen as a negative thing by both his ex-wife, himself, and Jenny, who wonders if Anthony might also cheat on her. And while Jenny is a Sympathetic Adulterer and her affair with Anthony is the film's big romance, her husband Larry rightly points out that the courts will see her as a bad adulterer regardless.
- Meanwhile, in the Future…: The film opens with Jenny's plot in the '60s, but gives almost equal screentime to Ellie in modern-day London, who is trying to piece the story of Jenny's affair together. As a result, Jenny and Ellie find the same letters at similar points in time in the narrative.
- Romantic Rain: Jenny and Rory have The Big Damn Kiss under an umbrella in a rainshower near the end.
- Rule of Three: Anthony asks Jenny to meet with him thrice: once at the train station, the next four years later at his residence, and the last in their old age. She misses the first two, but is only a little late for the last one.
- Scenery Porn: Anthony and Jenny grow closer and first consummate their affair amidst the lush scenery of the French Riviera, which is given cinematic appeal and attention.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Jenny cheats on Larry because he's emotionally distant and always working.
- Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Played With, in that the love was requited, but both parties thought it was unrequited. In the decades following Jenny's divorce, Anthony thought Jenny had rejected him with finality while Jenny was unable to find him. Nevertheless, neither got over the other, and bittersweetly reunite in the present day at Ellie's behest.
