My Oxford Year Movie Review:
Anna De La Vega (Sofia Carson) defers taking up a high-paying job at Goldman Sachs by a year to pursue her dream of studying Victorian poetry at Oxford University. An American, she falls head over heels in love with her professor, the young and dashing James ‘Jamie’ Davenport (Corey Mylchreest). Anna’s life has been predestined: grad school, Oxford, and Goldman, but her newfound feelings introduce confusion into her path. For nearly the entire first half, My Oxford Year seems like a generic rom-com. However, just as it starts to get monotonous, the film drops an interesting conflict, which makes the film both heartfelt and original.
Cast: Sofia Carson, Corey Mylchreest
Director: Iain Morris
At first, Anna and Jamie don’t get along. Even their meet-cute is not cute at all. Their relationship starts with the disclaimer of ‘casual’ and ‘fun,’ but fate has other ideas. And when things start to get serious, the stakes get higher.
Corey Mylchreest, who previously played vulnerability like a badge of honour in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, brings the same powerlessness to My Oxford Year. He brings an endearing charm to Jamie and maintains it throughout the film. Sofia Carson aptly justifies her role as a Spanish American in England, lost in the city, found in love. Having said that, their romance could have been explored with more depth, rather than with a fleeting montage.
More than conflicts, it is the characters that make My Oxford Year more interesting. Jamie’s father, William (Dougray Scott), for instance, embodies the trope of a father who is not happy with his son’s choices. When Jamie initially mentions that he is not on talking terms with his father, there’s a wonder if it is because of his career or his choice of partner. However, William’s anger is valid and humane, giving more agency and value to the rather simple friction point of the film.
If there is a flaw, it is the film’s choice to focus on the American obsession with the titular city but not do it efficiently. Even though the film has a self-tease, as Jamie calls Anna’s obsession with Oxford “anglophile ecstasy,” the film seems to constantly focus on the archaic values that Old British has to offer, while also not doing full justice to them. Even concerning poetry, the names of authors are thrown around here and there, even as a few poetic verses are recited, but that is as far as the film is willing to go. Peripheral characters also have romantic arcs, with a token gay character, but all of that could have served a better purpose to the film.
In the recent past, Netflix romance films have only been refurbished love stories with different actors in varied settings, with a predictable storyline. My Oxford Year does not force a happy ending on the audience or the protagonists. The makers could have milked the sentiments towards the end, but they chose to go with a bittersweet conclusion. As Anna looks on with hope in the last frame of the film, you turn off your screen with a mixed feeling of melancholy and revived hope—something most romance films have failed to offer in the recent past.