My Oxford Year
People seem to be having a vendetta against romance at the moment, and I don't get why. It's the perfect escapism; look outside! The world is going to shit, so god forbid people indulge in a little light-hearted romance drama. Considering that BookTok has helped book sales around the world, with people accessing book recommendations from the everyday person rather than from a seemingly inaccessible, lofty sphere of literary circles, is it any surprise that one of the genres to explode is Romance? No, and ‘My Oxford Year’ is one of them.
It is safe to say that the filmmakers LOVED Oxford; the city was pretty much its own character in its own right. Hollywood, still, now and forever more, will always be enamoured with the Old World. And by that I mean the British Isles. It is also considered the best place in the world to study English literature, so props to our leading lady, Anna, played by Sofia Carlson, who is in Oxford for her master’s before starting a job at Goldman. Whilst there, she meets and falls for her professor (a very popular BookTok trope, might I add), Jamie Davenport, played by Corey Mlychreest. Anna is only in Oxford for a year - a lot can happen in a year.
One of the key moments in any romance is the ‘meet cute’. It is necessary. It gets the viewers/ readers or listeners hyped up about the male lead, and endears us to our leading lady. This is a meet-cute? It was good, nothing like being splashed by a vintage car and then running into said owner of the car in a fish and chip shop whilst said owner is trying to (and failing) to hide from their latest paramour. It could’ve played on the comedy more. The two leads played off of each other well, not just in the comedic moments but in the kinder, heartfelt ones, too. Old World meeting New World did at times feel a little on the nose, especially when Anna goes to Jamie’s family home for her birthday.
We do not see much of the actual ‘studying’ that is done whilst Anna is at Oxford; the focus is more on the romantic relationships that occur. Oh, and Oxford, lots and lots of shots of Oxford. I would've liked to have seen an expansion on a few more of the characters and their relationships. For example, between Jamie and his father, I think that could have been expanded upon, and when their relationship is mended, it happens rather too quickly and a little too conveniently. And the friends that Anna makes feel more like comedic foils than actual people in the film. Sure, there isn't much you can do in a 2-hour film, but I think adding texture to your characters helps build a stronger narrative and can help raise the stakes.
The ending is beautiful. I liked how it ended. Yes, it was sad, but considering the whole point of Anna moving across the pond was to study poetry, it becomes rather meta and adds a deep thematic resonance that was not really executed well before. Whilst the poetic references were lovely and added to the overall charm, it could have leaned more into them. Art imitating life is something I really like to see.
I think to fully rate this film, I’d give it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars. Room for expansion and improvement, not just to focus solely on Oxford. But viewers need to remember, this isn't an Oxbridge drama like ‘The Theory of Everything’, it isn't a hard-hitting drama like ‘Conclave’, it is a romance. A drama that people can enjoy without having to think too hard about the plot, and one that is meant to be enjoyed.