Coup de foudre à l'anglaise

This is a lovely film filled with wonderful poetry references and quotes, fabulous views of the English countryside, and a touching exploration of different kinds of loss. There are several themes threading throughout and the film is not afraid to explore difficult subjects, like loss, fear, the expectations of others and ourselves, and difficult personal health or psychological challenges. This doesn't mean it is a heavy movie, but it is not afraid of delving a little deeper than some Hallmark romances, and it is not really light and airy. If the movie were not constricted to 90 minutes, I could see where some themes could have and should have been explored more. Even with the limitations of a television movie framework, I appreciated this one very much. It's not perfect. It's lovely for what it is. I could relate to Joss in certain ways, and I longed to visit Cornwall myself, while watching this movie.

After faithfully watching Hallmark movies for years, this film finally broke the mold of predictable formulaic Hallmark plots. There was no big city girl returning to her home town to help fix the cupcake bakery or the seasonal festival, help because Dad hurt his back or broke a leg, meet her old boyfriend, review why they broke up, have an almost kiss, an accidental misunderstanding, and get it all resolved by the last 5 minutes.

Here is a story of real emotion, real life issues, professional conflicts, personal struggle with anxiety, loss, sadness, and unresolved relationships. Here is a sensitive young woman, searching for answers in both a professional and a family crisis of her own, opening herself to risks and unknowns to help her resolve her sadness.

The acting on the part of Eloise Mumford, the young child, and the granny were spot on. Truly sensitive, deep interpretations of their roles. Sadly, the leading man was bit bland and one-note, but nevertheless presented a solid rock to lean on for the young woman in her personal emotional search.

The scenery was just breathtaking! It added drama and seriousness to the story. The exploration of the child's dyslexia was done with great sensitivity. The issue of professional conflict and creative blocks had a real life quality to it. Addressing personal depression, anxiety, medication, and the helplessness of such moments is a real departure for Hallmark and is so welcome in our current world.

And yes, as a previous reviewer noted, how and why did the young woman manage to pack 4 coats and a jacket in her suitcase for such short trip? But one has to forgive such filming gaffes. This was a Hallmark movie, after all. Not everything needs to make sense.

Here is a film truly worth watching, and truly a departure for Hallmark, which has become so formulaic that one can predict almost everything in most moves before it happens. Not here. This is a gem!! More of the same, please!!

Here we go again, the woman staying with a man she only met recently... however... let's start at the beginning

Joss is working hard on a paper in order to get tenure at a university. Her mother, who has passed away, left her for her birthday a trip to the farm she grew up in England. There she meets Daniel, his daughter and his mom who own and live in said farm.

I like that it tackled serious issues like anxiety, dyslexia, abandonment, a failed marriage, struggles with money and not your typical "I don't have a boyfriend for my ex's wedding so let's pretend you are it (I do love a pretend relationship but you understand my point). Hallmark movies and mysteries tend to go the extra mile and this was no exception.

The scenery was beautiful, the cast was great specially the actress playing little Tegan, she was adorable. They all had great chemistry. I also liked that they kind of left the ending hanging for you to figure out what will happen. We all knew what was going to happen though, right?

Which leads to me to the point of Joss leaving behind her life to be with a guy she barely knew. I understand why she gave up tenure and I really hope she spent the following months travelling through Europe and then chose to come back to Daniel and his family.

Yep, that's definitely what happened.

I like the cast. They do a good job.

Eloise Mumford is not your average "peppy - happy", fake, blonde lead, which is great. What I like about her is that she is "real" and she has this fragility about her - in this case - perfect for the anxious Joss.

Male lead, supporting mum and daughter are good. There is chemistry between all of them.

The storyline, although predictable, is more original than most romance films.

The scenery of course, is gorgeous.

My only, big, problem is with the sound. I struggled to understand what they were saying, most of the time. You have lead actors who are soft spoken, a lot of outdoor scenes and, instead of making sure the dialogue is audible, you add music. This had a huge impact on my enjoyment of this film.

I enjoyed this film tremendously, more than I have enjoyed a Hallmark film in awhile...and it had a few things working against it...like a mental health story and a dyslexia side story, but the overall story and chemistry made those minor dislikes insignificant.

The story is about an American college professor of literature, Joss, who I think is trying to get tenure and has two weeks to turn in her research paper post revisions. She receives a gift of a trip from her deceased mom who passed away just a year ago and from which Joss hasn't really recovered...she still feels like she is missing a piece of herself.

"Loss is a terrible thing, it never completely goes away."

Joss suffers from severe anxiety stemming from the car accident that took her father's life when she was a child. She makes the trip to Cornwall, staying at a sheep farm that her mom grew up on and her grandparents owned...but now she is a guest staying in the old mill house. The current owners are a single father and his mother. His daughter is struggling a bit in school...but is the most precious thing in the movie! She is a real scene stealer and I could listen to her for hours. Her grandmother is a bit cantankerous and is fighting a battle with her son over updating the farm. The son is the love interest who has wonderful chemistry with our lead actress. These two make a wonderfully soft spoken and lovely couple.

My three favorite things about this film were 1) the battle over the proper way to do tea 2) the scenery-which was truly beautiful and 3) the literary references from Oscar Wilde to William Wordsworth!

"It's what you read when you don't have to that determines who you'll be when you can't help it."-Oscar Wilde.

My favorite was the reading of the Wordsworth poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud", the description of daffodils was perfectly suited for the timing here in the Pacific Northwest where the daffodils are dancing in the wind so cheerfully this time of year.

Thank you for this breath of spring and sharing beautiful literature in this romance.

Highly recommend...you will not be sorry if you are a romantic.

"You know how scary that would be?"-Joss "I know, but you'd have the best wingman."-Daniel.