BuzzFeed produced and distributed by Amazon Prime Video, Book of Love is a movie that will be released on 4th February 2022. The movie is directed by Analeine Cal y Mayor and written by David Quantick.
Book of Love Cast
- Sam Claflin as Henry Copper
- Vernoica Echegui as Maria Rodriguez
- Fernando Becerril as Max Rodriguez
- Lucy Punch as Jen Spencer
Book of Love Movie Plot
Henry is a pretentious English novelist (Claflin) whose novel is a flop. One bright side is that the book is a bestseller in Mexico, but when he is called to promote it there, he quickly realises why: his dull novel has been reworked into a sexy novel by Maria, played by Echegui. The writer is enraged, and he’s angered even more when his publisher assigns him to a book tour across Mexico with the translator.
Book of Love Movie Review
BuzzFeed saved me in the lockdown time by just being highly entertaining. The quizzes and the articles are a stress buster so when I say I trust BuzzFeed, I actually mean that I really love it. One would argue that love means to trust as well but according to romance movies, it is not. Some romance movies do such a great job in the beginning and then like almost all romance movies just mess up the end. It is because love is so hard to interpret and so different that to make it simple, they bring absurdity into it.
With Valentine’s day right about the corner, February is lined with romance movies releases; one of which is BuzzFeed’s Book of Love. As the name suggests the main story is of love. With the idea of involving a book into the messiness of love. Sam Claflin plays a role of a writer whose personality can be attributed to a dork. He is soft-spoken, kind of a pushover who has an opinion only when his book is in the picture.
While this character doesn’t sound too appealing, Claflin’s performance sold it well. The looks helped obviously. Claflin was born to play a British dork who has had a “simple” life and thus doesn’t understand the whirlwind of love. When such a man releases a book that is inspired by his apparent mundane life, it is safe to say that the book wouldn’t have been a bestseller. Watching Sam Claflin be a loser was entertaining and I can’t quite place why.
The Chemistry and Banter between Sam Claflin and Veronica Echegui in Book of Love
When Hollywood makes a romance, they find it hard to keep the comedy away. Book of Love uses the complete failure of the book as a comedic relief throughout. Most of them were unnecessary but not bad. The thing that didn’t work for me in the movie at all was how they relied on the banter to take the story ahead. There were many stronger elements that fell behind.
Having said that, the banter was written really well. The chemistry between Sam Claflin and Veronica Echegul were so good that the banter was pleasant. Even in the weird scene where the phrase “English Breathing” was being talked about, the lack of comedy didn’t affect the entertainment.
Echegul did such a great job in the movie that my eyes didn’t mind leaving Sam Claflin’s face. She had an intensity in her performance that if she spoke complete gibberish I would still understand everything she wanted to say. Her role is such that made me realise the one thing I want to see more of in the movie. The Woman Saviour. Even though her character was complaining about helping men, the movie also is reinstating the fact that men are dumb. By the end, the movie had found a balance where she was saving the men around and also slaying her overall life.
In addition to that, the sets were swoon-worthy and I would definitely visit all the places and would consider permanently shifting to some of them too. The costumes looked great and communicated the differences between them really well.
The movie touches upon a thought that not many wonder about. It is the relationship between a translator and a writer. Translating is an intimate process as it involves communicating the thoughts of the original writer. The translator in this scenario has to keep their thoughts completely separate. Maria (Veronica) does everything but that. She decides that Henry’s thoughts are not worth the paper and so she rewrites it. What I don’t understand is how no one in Mexico read the translation and the original. If it is a number one book in the country, will no one who knows English and Spanish find the difference and then give Maria her due credit. Maria does mention how she lives in a men’s world and thus doesn’t get a chance but we also live in a selfish world; someone or the other would have pointed out the difference.
Other than that, I loved the consistency of the story. They didn’t forget the book element of the story halfway through, in fact even towards the ending, their book was being translated into their lives. Made the entire experience of watching satisfying. Another interesting theme was lust vs. love. Henry was adamant (only opinion he had) about how love doesn’t mean passion and Veronica’s smut scenes was what made the book a bestseller. Throughout, Veronica was showing the importance of passion in a relationship. Their growth was in terms of each other’s idealogy which completed the image of them being an old married couple perfectly.
Now to the ending. Men are stupid and rash. The ending was meant to be like a telenovela and thus the sudden switch to that was abrupt and annoying. Like all romance movies, the ending was super cute and so the entire confusion of the entire movie was forgiven and forgotten. Special mention to Maria’s son who had a small role but was unforgettable.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
In conclusion, the movie isn’t a must-watch but it is not horrible either. I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves good banter and watches movies for sizzling chemistry and woman power inspiration. Though I expected more from BuzzFeed, I wasn’t sorely disappointed. Perfect binge for Valentine’s day.
