Letters To Juliet parents guide

Letters To Juliet Parent Guide

While "Letters to Juliet" plays out exactly as expected, it is a pleasant journey across the beautiful countryside of Italy. And there are only a few potholes to concern parents.

Overall B+

While on vacation in Italy, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) goes to Verona to see a courtyard supposedly belonging to Shakespeare's fictitious couple. Over the years other visitors have left"letters to Juliet" describing their star-crossed love affairs. When the young American tourist finds a 50-year-old note about a tale of unrequited love, she determines to find the author and reunite the woman with her former Romeo.

Release date May 14, 2010

Violence A-
Sexual Content A-
Profanity C+
Substance Use B

Why is Letters To Juliet rated PG? The MPAA rated Letters To Juliet PG for brief rude behavior and sensual images, some language and incidental smoking.

Run Time: 105 minutes

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Parent Movie Review

Do you believe true love can last forever? Well, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) likes to think it can. Even though her job as a fact verifier for The New Yorker magazine demands that she deal in absolutes, in her heart she is still a romantic.

Her own love life is also a mix of sentiment and sensibility. Engaged to Victor (Gael García Bernal), an up-and-coming chef about to open his own restaurant, Sophie books a pre-wedding honeymoon in Italy knowing he will be too busy for a holiday once the new business gets going.

Unfortunately, she neglects to foresee how distracting a country full of fine food will be for the passionate cook. So while he goes to vineyards and wine auctions, she goes sightseeing, starting with a visit to a courtyard in Verona where Shakespeare’s legendary Juliet was supposed to have lived. While there she witnesses modern day star-crossed lovers leaving letters addressed to Juliet about their tales of woe.

Because Sophie has secret dreams of being a journalist, the investigative reporter in her takes an interest in what happens to this correspondence. Discovering each note is answered by a group of advice givers who call themselves Juliet’s secretaries, the young American asks if she can write a story about their job. The task becomes even more interesting when Sophie finds a fifty-year-old letter and is allowed to craft a reply to its author.

Although she speculates about what may have happened to this Claire Smith over the last half century, she is surprised when the now elderly woman (Vanessa Redgrave) shows up chauffeured by her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan). Inspired by Sophie’s response, Claire has decided to search for her long lost “Romeo”, much to Charlie’s chagrin. Excited about their quest, Sophie asks if she can join them.

As the trio sets out on this scavenger hunt, they find different things than what they went looking for, like varying views on life, love, sorrow and unrequited dreams. Along the way Sophie starts questioning the strength of her own affection and how much she has in common with her fiancé.

While Letters to Juliet plays out exactly as expected, it is a pleasant journey across the beautiful countryside of Italy. And there are only a few potholes to concern parents. These include frequent depictions of drinking (but never to drunkenness), an implied sexual relationship between the betrothed couple, portrayals of kissing, mild profanities and terms of deity used as expletives, as well as one crude sexual finger gesture. Despite these bumps, the story offers the hope that love truly can survive, despite life’s many detours.

Directed by Gary Winick. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave . Running time: 105 minutes. Theatrical release May 14, 2010. Updated

Letters To Juliet
Rating & Content Info

Why is Letters To Juliet rated PG? Letters To Juliet is rated PG by the MPAA for brief rude behavior and sensual images, some language and incidental smoking.

As Sophie’s travels in Italy, she and her companions frequently drink wine. Her fiancé jokes about getting tipsy while sampling various bottles of the alcoholic beverage. It is implied that an engaged couple is living together, and some mild sexual innuendo is exchanged between the pair. Various characters kiss. Classical and modern art depicting kissing and some nudity is shown. People touch the breast of a statue of Juliet. Language includes one use of scatological slang, some mild profanities and frequent terms of Christian deity as expletives. A man also makes a crude sexual finger gesture. Some cultural slurs and name-calling are heard. A few unhappily married couples make disparaging remarks about each other.

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Letters To Juliet Parents' Guide

Claire met the man of her dreams when she was only fifteen and hasn’t seen him in the last fifty years. Do you think such a young woman could really have been experiencing true love? How much change do you think is likely to occurred to these two individuals over half a decade of living? How much do you think they will have in common if they meet again?

Sophie believes in true love and destiny. Do you? Can a person only fall in love once? Is such an experience controlled by fate or choice? How does her perspective of her own romantic relationship belie what she is preaching?

What were the reasons Claire gives for not following her heart as a teenager? What feelings drive her quest now? Why do things that might have been have such a power to haunt us?

Claire’s grandson Charlie says picking up a relationship with a man one hasn’t seen for fifty years allows you to skip "all the messy bits." The older woman quips back, "Life is the messy bits." What do you think she means? Do you agree with her?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Letters To Juliet movie is September 14, 2010. Here are some details…

On September 14, 2010, Letters to Juliet release to DVD and in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo package. Both editions include the following bonus extras:

- Deleted and extended scenes

- Audio commentary with Director Gary Winick and actress Amanda Seyfried

- The Making Of Letters To Juliet: In Italia

- A Courtyard in Verona

Related home video titles:

Amanda Seyfried also stars in Dear John (another movie about letter writing) and Mamma Mia! (where her character tries to reunite her mother with former lovers that might be her father). A holiday abroad changes the romantic perspective of another woman in the movie Leap Year.