July 27th 2025

Four Letters of Love

Companion (streaming on Amazon Prime)

Two totally different films for your consideration this week. One old-style poetic romance, and one romance of a quite different sort, bordering on horrific!

Four Letters of Love

Dir: Polly Steele

Length: 125 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg7lWUovA2g

© Mushrooms Studios/Reset Collective - 
sentimental schmaltz or romance personified? 

Are people ever made for each other? Fated to be together? If this love story has anything to say about it, definitely! Based upon Niall Williams' much-loved novel, the tale is set in Ireland, where Nicolas (Fionn O'Shea) and Isabel (Ann Skelly) are going about their separate lives. In voice-over narration from Nicolas, we hear how his father William (Pearce Brosnan) one day had a sign from God that he should leave his boring job and become a painter. Meantime Isabel, beloved daughter of teacher/poet Muiris (Gabriel Byrne) and Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) is sent to boarding school from which she is expelled after playing truant with local lad and charmer Peader (Ferdia Walsh Peelo). As the lives of Nicolas and Isabel go their separate ways, gradually fate (in the form of poems, letters and a painting) will lead their paths towards each other. This the sort of film some critics love to hate. Yes there are some flaws - the over use of voice-over, the difficulty of transposing the lyrical world of poetry to the screen, and the overt sentimentality, but there is also so much to enjoy here. The top-rate cast fit their roles perfectly, the stunning Irish countryside is showcased in all its glory, and the many love stories, including those of the parents, are warm and embracing. So, whether you are a hopeless romantic or a confirmed cycnic may determine your response to this film. I think I'm in the former camp. 

3.5- well recommended

Companion

Dir: Drew Hancock

Length: 97 mins

Streaming on Amazon Prime 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr_kX0D3DNA

 Warner Bros - love in the modern era

Josh (Jack Quaid) and girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) are off for a fun weekend at a lake house with their friends Eli (Harvey Guillen) and Patrick (Lucas Gage), along with Kat (Megan Suri) and her wealthy Russian boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend) who owns the holiday home. Iris remembers fondly how she first met Josh, and constantly expresses her adoration of him. But things soon turn ugly when Iris returns from the lake, covered in blood and announces she has killed Sergey, who tried to rape her. I'm unsure how much one should reveal about just what a sort of girl Iris is; the film's marketing certainly implies it all. Suffice to say there is so much in this clever film to enjoy and to ponder.  The treatment of women by men is front and centre, as are the usual intriguing sci-fi concepts around AI and robotic sentience. The plot itself has numerous and  unexpected twists, turns and revelations, the relationship between Patrick and Eli being one of the best surprises. No-one is what they seem, and while we can't help but ponder the existential question of what it is to be human, we need to also just go along for a fun, fast and at times funny ride with this excellent film. PS. Thatcher gives a knock-out performance as Iris. 

4- highly recommended