Movie Review: My Oxford Year

Honestly, I stumbled upon it while mindlessly scrolling through a list of romantic dramas one quiet Saturday night. The title caught my attention, Oxford has a certain pull, doesn’t it? The allure of cobblestone streets, vintage libraries, and the haunting poetry of old academia. I thought I was about to settle into a charming love story in an ivy-clad university town. What I got was so much more—it was a film that gripped my heart, stirred emotions I wasn’t ready for, and left me quietly devastated in the most beautiful way possible.

We know the feeling--that hunger for something soft, something sentimental but intelligent, a tale that is not demeaning to your intelligence but also not burying you in cynicism. That was I. And when I read the blurb of My Oxford Year I thought, OK, an ambitious young American woman finding her way in life, love and dreams in Oxford? That will be ideal.” I had not thought it would ruin me.

The film is based on Ella Duran, a smart, politically minded US student, who receives the chance of a lifetime- a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. All is alright on schedule. Her future is all planned out: politics, change, ambition. Yet as is so often the way of life, something, or someone, is destined to come along and turn the world upside down.

Jamie Davenport comes in. Cute, British, arrogantly self-assured, and unbelievably charming. Initially, they are in conflict. It is the old enemies-to-loves thing that we are all used to seeing a million times. However, this is where My Oxford Year is right, it does not stay superficial. Their friendship turns into a soulful and soul-seeking one. A casual impulse to flirtation turns into a serious love affair that has to face the issues of sacrifice, death, meaning, and loss.

Well, here is the thing: My Oxford Year is not a typical love story. It misleads you early on with its clever dialogue, scenic beauty and charged sexual chemistry. Yet behind all that lies a bare, uncompromising story of how weak life is, yet how strong it is to love someone who may not be around the next day.

It is a very well-written screenplay with witty dialogues and poetic scenes, which last a long time after the credits go away. Ella is not a typical female lead-strong, smart, and incredibly driven. But it is this difficulty of life that makes her so relatable: she has to ask the most difficult questions: What do I really want? Who am I if I step off the path I’ve spent years paving?

He is not only the love interest. His tale, without spoiling too much, is heartbreaking and layered enough to see the film as much more than a romance. It has to do with living to the fullest, with deciding to love even when you are aware that the situation may not end happily.

Something that remained in my mind was the fact that the movie has not provided a sugar-coated end. It honored the tale. It did not treat the audience as an idiot. And it refreshed me that love, in its beautiful ugliness, is worth the risk. The acting was top notch- especially the actors. Their chemistry was lived in and genuine. It had instances that were so close that I forgot that I was watching a movie. It was like getting a sneak peak into peoples actual, unedited life.

The thing that fully captured my imagination was the dual emotional nature of the story. It lived in the same world of contradictions, between happiness and melancholy, smiles and sobbing, hopes and despair. The scene-- the visionary towers of Oxford-- only increased the emotional undercurrents. The university town is much more than a background in the film, it becomes a character. The squeaky bookcases, the foggy courtyards and the pubs at midnight all form a romantic and haunted atmosphere.

The music score is small yet strong. All the notes appear to be created to go directly to your soul particularly at the most emotional parts of the film. There is a certain scene when there is a decision and in the background the music swells. I recall being there, with silent teardrops running down my face not because it was sad in a cheap sense but it was real.

My Oxford Year made me get glued to the screen. Not only in the physical sense-but in the emotional sense. It made me question my priorities, things I fear, people I love and things I take granted of. It caused me to think how many times we defer life, how many times we say to ourselves, I will do that when I have more time never realizing that is the one thing we never get enough of.

I recognized myself in the desire Ella has to be in control, in the need to know how the result will be, in the fear of losing the way. But I learned of her, too--how to take the road that runs round instead of straight across sometimes. Love is not always meant to be forever, it is sometimes meant now. And that will do.

My Oxford Year is not a film you see and forget. It is that lingering kind you know, the kind of last words of a love letter that is neatly folded, and stashed away in a drawer only to be thought of during a rainy day. It also brought back to me the reminder that it is not the length of days that make our lives rich, but how far down we are willing to dig to live and love in the number of days we have.

Couldn’t you use a film that would not only wrap you in a warm blanket but also make you laugh, and then break your heart a little? Well My Oxford Year is that film. Yeah, it is a romantic drama. But it is also a tale of who we are, what our purpose is, and how beautiful we are when we are vulnerable.

Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie