Displaying items by tag: My Oxford Year movie

MY OXFORD YEAR

US, 2025, 116 minutes, Colour.

Sofia Carson, Corey Mylchcreest, Dougray Scott, Catherine McCormack, Harry Trevaldwyn, Esme Kingdom, Nikhil Parmar, Poppy Gilbert.

Directed by Allison Burnett.

My Oxford Year is a romantic comedy. Its central characters are in their 20s so that is the target audience.

It begins well but moves into very familiar material, touches of the cliche, touches of the trite in establishing a relationship, moving to emotions and jealousies, and then a final reveal which changes the perspective on the characters. And, it has a finale which, on the evidence of the narrative, seems impossible – or highly improbable.

The focus is on a young woman, with a good job at Goldman Sachs but who has had had a dream of studying literature in Oxford. She is from New York, a Hispanic family. When she arrives in Oxford, she is overwhelmed and the film offers scenes of Oxford, nostalgic for those who have been there, attractive for those who have not. She is Anna, played by Sofia Carson.

A car drives by, driving through a puddle and splashing her - entrenching. Then she encounters the driver, obviously wealthy, with a friend, hiding from a woman in a fish and chip shop. Interactions between Anna and Jamie, played by Corey Mylchreest (who, in fact, is five years younger than Sofia Carson). She goes for her lecture for the professor she wanted to listen to who has had a new job and, the new professor is Jamie. So, some prickly episodes, battle of the sexes.

When she is put upon in her first visit to a pub, he comes to her rescue, taking her to his favourite kebabs shop, and, too instantly, she is kissing him. After some hesitation they begin a relationship, too soon for credibility, declaring that each of them just wants to have fun.

There are some academic moments, some glimpses of classes and reading of poetry and interpretation, some tutorials, but very little insight into her academic career over the months which means that her becoming the professor at the end of the film defies credibility.

So romantic comedy and its variations in the Oxford context, with scenes of the anniversary Ball, the races on the Thames, atmosphere. But, something of a break, Anna and jealousy, discovering the truth about Jamie, his health, the death of his brother, alienation from his father. The tone of the film then does become much more serious leading to clashes, reconciliations, illness and death.

There may be an appeal to younger audiences but older audiences may well become impatient with characters and development of the themes.