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What to Expect from the Netflix Romance ‘The Last Letter from Your Lover’

Only the strongest will be able to watch the trailer without tearing up.
The Last Letter From Your Lover
Netflix
By  · Published on July 16th, 2021

Welcome to Great Expectations, a recurring series in which we break down the most essential information about an upcoming movie or show. In this edition, we look at what you can expect from — and where you can watch — the Netflix movie The Last Letter from Your Lover.


Steamy, forbidden glances. Secret handwritten letters. Running to catch your one true love in the rain. If like me, you’re a total sucker for these romance film staples, you’re in luck. You can expect all of these things and more from the half-period-drama, half-contemporary-love-story The Last Letter from Your Lover.

Directed by Augustine Frizzell (Never Goin’ Back), and co-written by Nick Payne (Wanderlust) and Esta Spalding (On Becoming a God in Central Florida), the new star-studded Netflix movie is based on Jojo Moyes’ bestselling 2008 novel of the same name.

Moyes also wrote Me Before You, which was adapted into a tear-jerker starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin in 2016. That movie saw favorable box office numbers and proved the author’s literary chops translate well onto the big screen. So if you’re prepared to have your heartstrings pulled in a big way again, tune in to Netflix for her latest.

Here’s everything you need to know about The Last Letter from Your Lover:

The Last Letter from Your Lover Release Date (and Where to Watch)

The Last Letter from Your Lover has been in the works since mid-2019, and fortunately, the long wait is almost over. The movie is slated to make its debut on Netflix on July 23, 2021. So grab some tissues and a box of chocolates and get ready to dig into the romance of the summer.

The Last Letter from Your Lover cast

As far as casts go, The Last Letter from Your Lover has one of the most exciting of the year. Shailene Woodley (The Fault in our Stars) plays Jennifer Stirling, a 1960s socialite. Joe Alwyn (The Favourite) is her husband, Laurence, and Callum Turner (Green Room) plays her secret lover, Anthony O’Hare. In the modern-day storyline, we have Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) as a journalist named Ellie and Nabhaan Rizwan (1917) as Rory, an archivist who works alongside Ellie.

The Last Letter from Your Lover plot synopsis

The Last Letter from Your Lover has two storylines. One, set in the 1960s, follows New York socialite Jennifer Stirling (Woodley). She partakes in an illicit affair in London with Anthony (Turner), a financial journalist writing a story on her husband. The two correspond frequently through letters.

The second storyline involves Ellie (Jones), a journalist living in London forty years later. She discovers the letters and becomes obsessed with finding out what happens at the end of Jennifer and Anthony’s love story. As she investigates the archives, she finds herself ensnared in her own romance with her coworker (Rizwan).

Watch the trailers

Is it possible to become invested in a love story in just two minutes and thirty seconds? Based on the trailers for The Last Letter from Your Lover, I can confidently say yes. Check out both trailers here:

Shailene Woodley wanted to say yes before reading the script

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shailene Woodley admits she was eager to star in The Last Letter from Your Lover:

“Before I even read the script I was inclined to say yes. I had been really wanting to work with Augustine and just loved her as a human being…Then I read the script and it was really beautifully executed — I don’t feel like there’s a lot of movies that are told this way and also executed in a way that’s thoroughly entertaining and intelligent.”

Woodley also says the film will likely resonate with a lot of women who watch it:

“You recognize the struggles that come with being a woman, specifically in that time era, making decisions for herself and choosing a path that perhaps isn’t the most well-worn, yet IS the most fulfilling. There aren’t a lot of stories about women who do make decisions for themselves even though there are serious consequences and repercussions.”

So whether you’re looking for a story about a woman making bold choices, or you’re just in the mood for a good old fashioned love story, make sure to head to Netflix later this month for one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.

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Aurora Amidon spends her days running the Great Expectations column and trying to convince people that Hostel II is one of the best movies of all time. Read her mostly embarrassing tweets here: @aurora_amidon.