Mood: romantic, heartfelt, moving and a bit blue
ATTENTION! Spoiler-heavy review (just had too many thoughts I needed to share)
The expression life happens when you’re making other plans fits the story of Only You perfectly and the truthfulness of that saying just reminds us how profoundly common and transformative are the issues the main characters in the film face. This is why all the emotions feel so raw and real.
It’s the chance encounter we have all dreamed off – two people, an English marine biology PhD student & part-time DJ Jake and Spanish council worker Elena, meet on New Year’s Eve in Glasgow. Despite a slight initial confrontation, sparks fly and their whirlwind romance begins. Everything happens super fast, but somehow it seems natural and not at all rushed.
It sounds like an innocent and non-consequential lie, as Elena coyly reveals her age, step by step, going through 28, then saying 30, later changing to 32 and finally confirming it’ s actually 34, especially because Jake doesn’t look concerned. However, her “sudden ageing” is exactly the factor that leads to the acceleration of their relationship, moving in together and planning for a baby.
Instead of being scared or having the typical commitment issues of a 26-year-old, Jake takes the plunge and leaps into the idea of a family with Elena, wholeheartedly and without any reservations. In his mind, he has found the perfect girl for him. Sadly, albeit the couple’s evident passion and complete enamour with each other, their biggest challenge awaits just around the corner. Their intense fertility struggles test not only their connection but them as individuals too.
The leads Laia Costa and Josh O’Conner give an absolute master class on subtle, but incredibly powerful dramatic acting. Their performances are not the shouty, over-the-top interpretations that we tend to expect in a heart-breaking tale like this. They are delicate and measured and full of compassion and love. Their on-screen chemistry is electric as well and both of them are so sweet and likeable that viewers can’t help but be compelled to believe and sympathise with everything their characters are going through.
The two lovers are rarely screaming, even when most upset – they tend to internalise a lot of their suffering. Anyway, the surprising and refreshing thing is that Elena, who in theory should be more mature because she is nearly 10 years older than Jake, is somehow more infantile and her own insecurities lead her to push him away. It’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy – worrying about him leaving her and driving him to do so before he even thinks of doing it. Perhaps, she wants to avoid getting hurt or is maybe even attempting to spare him from having to be the bad guy who breaks things off.
In the end, in spite of the fact that everything they had pictured as the ideal future for their little family, doesn’t materialise, they discover that their love is enough and that they only need each other to be happy. Very often you see couples looking to fill the voids in their relationships or even fix them somehow by getting a child together, but it is precisely the lack of offspring that nearly tears Jake and Elena apart.
Nevertheless, it is not that they’re unsatisfied with what they have or because they’re miserable together. It’s more the image, the next logical step, the universal expectation that they think they need to follow – but not every life is the same and unfortunately, we’re not all meant to have kids. It’s then acknowledging and accepting the naked truth that your journey may not have the same elements as everyone else’s, but that doesn’t make it any less complete or successful.
It is a difficult realisation that we’re the ones who make ourselves unhappy by trying to reach these unobtainable goals we’ve set for ourselves. No one is saying we shouldn’t aim higher and always settle, but we need to reevaluate what we strive to achieve regularly to make sure that we’re not self-tormenting unnecessarily because of something we can’t possibly change.
Writer and director Harry Wootliff accomplishes a simple plot that cuts you deep, makes you ponder a lot and even reconsider many of your own decisions and beliefs. It is done beautifully with an exquisite cast and sharp script. It’s a low-budget indie that will be one for the ages and will soon become a classic, practically a template of how to do a romance right.