Director
Eliza Schroeder

Starring
Celia Imrie, Rupert Penry-Jones, Shelley Conn and Shannon Tarbet

Watching Love Sarah is akin to being on anti-depressants; you’re not going to hate it, nor will you love it, you’ll merely experience an overall sense of apathy. It’s a great shame though as the film has all the potential to be something special, but it simply fails to deliver.

The movie starts with four women; one riding a bicycle through London, another waiting outside of an empty shop calling her friend to find out where she is, one texting her Mum to wish her good luck for the settlement of her new business and an older woman writing a letter to her estranged daughter. As it turns out, the latter three are all communicating with the first woman (Sarah) on the bicycle, who we soon discover has died on that journey.

The story then jumps forward presumably a few months to the daughter (Clarissa) breaking up with her boyfriend and needing to move in with her estranged grandmother (Mimi, played by Celia Imrie) to avoid homelessness. I guess we’re just meant to assume that Sarah didn’t have a life insurance benefit or any assets to bequeath to her daughter, but we can’t know for sure as it’s not even discussed. The friend who was meant to be opening the bakery with Sarah (Isabella) is now looking for someone to take over the lease of the shop, it’s at this point that Clarissa and Mimi decide to instead join Isabella and open the bakery, along with the help of a guy Sarah and Isabella went to culinary school with, with whom Sarah shared ‘history’. From there we’re taken through their struggles opening a new business, and trying to find something that makes their bakery stand out above the rest.

I have numerous issues with Love Sarah, the overwhelming one being frustration. I was very much looking forward to seeing it, and came prepared with tissues hoping that it would be an emotional journey. But therein lies the first major problem of the film. The story and characters are so underdeveloped, that it’s impossible to feel anything substantial for them or their circumstances. As someone who lost their own Mum last year, I was expecting to be gut-punched with empathy, particularly for Clarissa, but there was no real emotional acknowledgement for the tragedy that had befallen her life. It was more along the lines of ‘Well my Mum died, hey let’s bake some cakes’. It’s not the fault of the actors either, they all did a fine job with the material they had to work on, but the script writer has severely let them down on this one. The fact that we the audience aren’t given a chance to meet Sarah, or see her interaction with the characters, nor are we shown their grief or bereavement, straight away a key ingredient (pardon the pun) is lost. That connectivity and understanding of their motivational drive, the very reason for the films existence just isn’t communicated effectively.

The underdevelopment of the story also means that all the regular tropes of a romantic dramedy are trotted out, but we just don’t actually care. There are ‘major’ plot reveals that barely raise an eyebrow, and probably seem less sensational than we’re initially lead to believe. It becomes a film that is too easy to simply go through the motions with, and it fails to leave an indelible mark beyond the final credits.

Overall Love Sarah isn’t a terrible movie, it’s merely a lazy one that fails its audience. But if you’re looking for 98 minutes that won’t challenge you to think or feel anything, then this could be the answer.

Love Sarah is in selected cinemas now.

2 Stars

Trailer
LOVE SARAH

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