PS I LOVE YOU

US, 2007, 126 minutes, Colour.
Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick Jr, Gina Gershon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Nelly Mc Kay, Kathy Bates.
Directed by Richard La Gravenese.

This is an unabashed love story that is meant to tug on the heart strings – and will for most audiences who like to surrender to love stories.

The film opens with an argument between Holly (Hilary Swank) and her husband, Gerry (Gerard Butler, late of Phantom of the Opera and 300 where he was Leonidas with a Scots accent). They bicker, reconcile, show that this could be a vigorous happy marriage and then the credits come on. Then, after a few minutes, we are told that Gerry has died of a tumour. No, this is not a ghost story, but Gerry and his spirit do linger long in Holly’s life and grief.

Her tough mother (Kathy Bates) and her close friends (Gina Gershon and a comic Lisa Kudrow) try to shake her out of her reclusiveness and provide a birthday cake – and a letter from Gerry. He has left a series of letters (all with PS I love you) and the film shows how Holly follows their lead and is able, not to bring him back to life, but allow herself to be brought back to life by his loving letters. Since Gerry was Irish, this involves a trip to Ireland with her friends and the chance to meet his family – and an old musical friend (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Hilary Swank, we know, is quite a strong screen personality so Holly comes across forcefully even in her grief. Harry Connick Jr has a good role as a barman who suffers from a syndrome that leads him to blurt out the blunt truth of what he is really thinking. And he provides a shoulder for Holly to cry on.

This is a mixture of laughter and tears – and there is a nice piece of information at the end which gives some deeper meaning to what has happened to Holly.

1.The audience appeal of a love story? A story of death, grief? Love after death?

2.The New York settings, apartments, restaurants, streets? The contrast with Ireland, the country roads, the fields, the farms, beauty?

3.The range of songs, the score, the karaoke songs? The symbol of the various characters? The song for Jerry’s funeral?

4.The title, letters, letters from the dead, being alive, bringing Holly alive?

5.The prologue, Holly and her anger, Jerry and his upset, the argument, the tensions, the issue of children, Holly’s mother and her attitude, the apologies, the issue of money, the small apartment, their careers? Jerry going out, coming back, the happy resolution? The possibilities of a happy marriage?

6.Time passing, Jerry’s death? The information, the effect, the funeral, the clothes for the funeral, the wake, John and the business partnership with Jerry, the memories? The jokes? Holly’s mother and her providing the food for the wake? Daniel serving at the bar, his bluntness, saying what he thought? Sharon, Denise and her trying to pick up men? The friends, the support?

7.Holly closing up, in the apartment, watching the movies, Bette Davis and the phone-answering call, miming Judy Garland’s song? Her mother and friends arriving? Cleaning up, getting her to go out?

8.Holly’s birthday, the cake, the letter from Jerry? Holly going out, the further letters, quitting her job, going to the karaoke bar, the memories of her fall, succeeding? The advice to go to Ireland? On the boat, stranded, Billy to the rescue? The memories of Ireland, the night with Billy? Going home, looking for a sign, the shoes, closing herself off from her friends, returning to Denise with the wedding dress, returning to her mother, the truth about her mother’s role with the letters, the final letter?

9.The flashbacks with Jerry, Irish background, the meeting on the road, the discussions, art, falling in love, changing life as we know it …? The marriage, the karaoke, the partnership, the tenderness, Jerry’s character?

10.Sharon and Denise, Denise and her questions to men at the wake, her wanting the kindred spirit, finding Tom, going off with him? The engagement? Sharon and her pregnancy? Their going to Ireland, the news in the boat, losing the oar, Bill to the rescue, the night? Denise feeling cut off, Holly’s return, the gift of the shoes? The happiness at the wedding?

11.Holly’s mother, tough, not liking Jerry, at the wake, her sister coming back for the wake, their support, the truth about her mother, the revelation?

12.The Irish parents – welcoming Holly, the past and their wariness of her?

13.Daniel, as a friend, blunt, his disease, medication, saying what he thought, a shoulder for Holly to cry on, her anguish, his going to the restaurant, leaving, his wanting something personal, the kiss, realising that they were good friends?

14.Holly, the shoes, training, making the shoes, her skills, the catalogue, making a life for herself?

15.The wedding, joy, not sensing Jerry around, letting go of grief?

16.The return to Ireland, taking her mother, the beauty of the countryside, the chance meeting with Billy, the future?

17.A love story – its appeal to a male audience, female audience?