246. Only You; movie review

ONLY YOU
Cert 15
118 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, strong sex

When the central plank of a film is the age difference of its characters, shouldn't it be a little more obvious?
Within a few weeks of a whirlwind relationship, Laia Costa's Elena tells Josh O'Connor's Jake that she worries that he will no longer love her when she is 40 and he is 30.
This would resonate a tad more if Costa was as old as the character she portrays (she is 34, Elena is 35) or if she actually looked her age rather than ten years younger.
But another central problem is that O'Connor is playing someone who is 26 when he is actually 29 and looks older.
So, in real life, there are only five years between them and hardly anyone would know it. Mrs Robinson, this ain't.
Anyway, the pair have the type of relationship which is... err... normal.
Yep, they make love, they go on trips, they occasionally fall out and they are submerged beneath the type of insecurities which we all face.
And then he wants to have a baby. This seems as weird to her as it would to anyone who had observed the tumultuous and short relationship.
The pair are hardly suited to this level of commitment and the process of trying for a baby doesn't calm them down.
Suffice to say that I didn't get Harry Wootliff's film.
Was I meant to empathise with either Jake or Elena?
The reality was that I was crossing my fingers that they could not conceive because I couldn't imagine a baby coming into a worse environment.
But was that the point? Who knows? I was past caring long before the end.

Reasons to watch: A modern-day romance
Reasons to avoid: Unlikable characters

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? The length of time couples have to try to conceive naturally before being able to have IVF on the NHS is two years. It was reduced three to two in order to boost their chances of success. 

The final word. Harry Wootliff: "I wanted to write a relationship film that had a problem at the heart of it that felt very contemporary, and also was quite a taboo subject that people didn't talk about. And I wanted it to feel like you're a fly on the wall in that relationship; that it's very intimate and real."

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