Four Letters of Love Film Review
Summary: A sentimental Irish film that tries too hard to fit too much in. This makes for a confusing and tedious love story.
2.5
Love Song
“Four Letters of Love” is a film that held so much promise. It stars an excellent ensemble cast of veteran actors. It’s a love story based on a beloved novel. But something ultimately seems to have been lost in the translation from the page to the silver screen.
Niall Williams adapted this film. He was also the author of the novel, so perhaps he was a little too close to the subject matter. His script lends the proceedings a very literary quality, one that is very apparent when the main character Nicholas narrates (a whisper-quiet Fionn O’Shea).
Polly Steele directs this Irish drama and romance but don’t go thinking this will be another “Brooklyn.” This film is much more complex than Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece and this is to its own detriment. “Four Letters” tells the parallel stories of youngsters and lovers, Nicholas and Issy, except that it’s difficult for the audience to be emotionally invested in their love story when it all comes together so late in the proceedings.
We learn that Nicholas is the son of a man, William Coughlan (Pierce Brosnan) who had a career as a civil servant, only to abandon this safe work in order to pursue a new career after receiving a divine message from God. Brosnan seems rather miscast here, and it requires a major suspension of disbelief from audiences to take his character seriously. The whole notion seems very far-fetched, least of all from a man with a wife (Imelda May) and family in the tumultuous Ireland of the 1970s.
Coughlan’s selfishness affects Nicholas and turns him into a very earnest character. But Nicholas also decides he wants to pursue his own artistry in the form of poetry. Through a series of coincidences (and blatant contrivances) he eventually meets the rebellious and spirited Issy (a lovely, Ann Skelly). She is a flame-haired lady who has married the first man she met (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo).
Williams draws together the disparate elements of the story by drawing links between a painting by Coughlan and a poetry competition that is won by Issy’s Dad, Muiris (a likeable Gabriel Byrne). Helena Bonham Carter is incredible here. He plays the no-nonsense mam of Issy and wife of Muiris. She seems the most logical and human character of the lot.
“Four Letters of Love” is a film that is emotive and lyrical, just as you would expect from the Irish. It should appeal to those individuals who enjoyed the novel, as it tries to pack as much of the literary detail as possible into its 109-minute runtime. But the rest of us are left with an unsatisfying and utterly confusing watch, like a Nicholas Sparks film in a language we simply don’t understand.
About the Author
Natalie Salvo Natalie is a Sydney-based writer and lover of all things music, food, photography comedy, art, theatre. You can find her digging in crates at good record stores.
Related Posts
Superman (2025) Review – The Melbourne IMAX Experience →
Jurassic World: Rebirth – Film Review →
SMURFS | IN CINEMAS NOW! →
