The Presence of Love

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.

There are some real high points in this movie that are not typical of this genre. The scenery was gorgeous, the characters were well drawn out with actual problems in their lives, and the overly saccharine plot points were still somewhat palatable. I thought the ending strained credulity, but that didn't ruin the movie at all. I could have used a second part to this -- or even a miniseries.

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.

What a wonderful change of pace! This movie had depth, understanding, a steady pace and excellent acting. Such a relief from the annoyingly formulaic movies usually presented. No old boyfriend, no high heels, no saving the old bakery, festival, tree... here we had a lovely background, intertwining stories and themes, well developed characters, and a movie that was complex yet simple. It stays with me and I'll think about this one for a long time.