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Violinist Samantha (Jennifer Love Hewitt), an American music student in London, is always taken
for granted by her live-in partner Wyndham (Paul Nicholls), an ambitious young Briton who loves her but who loves his career more. In the morning of the day she is to hold
her concert—an event she has been preparing for for three years—he totally forgets about it, being absorbed in a presentation he is to make to the company board that
morning. Samantha tries everything to catch a bit more of his attention and time as she is supposed to leave the next day for a long vacation in Ohio—presenting him with a
gift jacket, strip-teasing and pinning him down to bed, making him breakfast, but Wyndham manages to avoid intimacy, obsessed as he is with his presentation. Samantha takes
all this with a smile and a generously forgiving heart. Little does he know that he is to lose her to death that day.
The story of If Only
has the element of the supernatural (like clairvoyance), and would have been sheer nonsense if it had been less deftly handled. But as it is, the presence of the paranormal does not overshadow the story's on-your-face realness—credit this to the good choice of actors: the gamin-faced Hewitt (an actress of exceptional beauty wouldn't have come on as vulnerable as she does here), and the tender-eyed Nicholls (a more macho type wouldn't have suited the tear-jerking part he plays). Despite the extraordinary plot development and the intricate turn of events, the story comes clearly across, thanks to its skillful editing and good characterization. The movie also showcases Hewitt's vocal/musical prowess as she performs a couple of songs which she has also written and composed.
If Only appears
to be an ordinary love story, with the male lead crying half of the time (yes, more than the female lead), but justifiably so. If the actors' tear ducts seem to have been
overworked here it's because the movie is about the loss of a loved one—and the agonizing realization that one never really knows what treasure one has until one loses it.
The message is unmistakably clear, relevant and valid in our day and age when young people have increasingly become more achievement-oriented and driven by a purpose other than
love.
Taken seriously, If Only should help viewers slow down and sort things out to discover what are the truly important things in life. CINEMA rates it A-14, and parents are cautioned to point out to their teenaged children that while the message of
If Only is positive, certain factors present in it deserve careful scrutiny, like the supernatural element, and the fact that the couple are but live-in partners.
(Date Reviewed: 15 July 2005)
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