The Greatest Love Story Ever Told...
Is Your Own
Sophie: My name is Sophie.
I just... I followed you, and I saw that you put the letters into a basket and I just wondered why.
Isabella: Why? Come, I show you.
[walk to the window and notice some women walk on the street]
They come from all over the world every day.
Sophie: But, taking their letters? Is that not like taking pennies from a wishing well?
Isabella: How else can we give them answers?
Sophie: Oh my God. So you write all of them back.
Isabella: Yes...
Sophie: You're all Juliet.
Isabella: Her secretaries.
Donatella has been married 51 years to the same man.
She handles husband problems.
Donatella: Husbands are like wine. They take a long time to mature.
Isabella: Francesca is a nurse. She deals with illness and loss.
And Maria... [sighs]
Maria: Why do you always sigh when you say my name?
Isabella: She has 12 children, 29 garndchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.
She writes whatever she likes.
Sophie: And you?
Francesca: Isabella answers the ones you can barely read. [handed a letter to Sophie]
Isabella: Yeah, the lovers' quarrels, the breakups, the really tangled hearts.
Someone has to do it.
Charlie: May I ask, which one of you wrote this letter to my grandmother, Claire Smith?
Sophie: I wrote that. And I can't believe that it found you.
Charlie: Yes, we Brits tend to stay in our family homes.
Sophie: Yeah, this is amazing. It's less than a week since I mailed it.
Charlie: It was a very thoughtful letter.
Now, what were you thinking?
Sophie: I was thinking that she deserved an answer.
Charlie: Yeah, 50 years ago, maybe. Not now!
Sophie: I'm sorry, I didn't know true love had an expiration date.
Charlie: True love? Are you joking?
Could you imagine what would've happened if she hadn't seen sense?
Sophie: Well yeah, you wouldn't be here and that would be an upside.
Charlie: What are you doing here anyway?
Are you some lonely American girl who has to live vicarously through others?
Sophie: I'm not lonely, I'm engaged.
Charlie: Hmph, my condolences to the groom.
Sophie, following Charlie: Excuse me! So that's it?
You've come all the way from London to give me a lecture?
Charlie: No, I came because I couldn't let my grandmother come on her own.
Sophie: Oh my God, that's awesome! She's come to find her Lorenzo!
Charlie, stopped walking: Awesome? [smirking]
And if Lorenzo doesn't want to see her, has forgotten her, is gravely ill or dead,
let's say, just for fun, then what?
[Sophie couldn't answer]
Thought so!
Sophie: So you must feel like you're about to find your long lost soulmate.
Claire: Yes.
Charlie: Her soulmate was my grandfather.
Let's not invalidate my entire existence.
[after Claire knocks the door]
Charlie: What if the wife answers and goes into a fit of jealous rage, Gran?
Claire: Well, I'd be flattered.
I'm more worried that he won't remember me.
If I found the love of my life, I wouldn't stand there like an idiot, whispering in a garden.
I would just grab her from that blasted balcony and be done with it.
~Charlie
Sophie: Do you believe in destiny?
Charlie: Do you?
Sophie: Yeah, I think so.
Sophie: Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move.
Charlie: Doubt truth be a liar, but never doubt I love.
Claire: I'm sorry I was late.
Lorenzo: No. When we're speaking about love, it's never too late.
Claire: I think you'll understand why I'm telling you you're a total idiot.
Charlie: Okay, then don't sugarcoat it, Gran.
Claire: I won't.
How many Sophies do you think there are on this planet?
Don't wait 50 years like I did.
Dear, Claire.
'What' and 'If' are 2 words as non-threatening as words can be.
But put them together, side by side,
and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life.
'What if?'
I don't know how your story ended,
but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late.
If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now?
You need only the courage to follow your heart.
I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like,
a love to leave loved ones for, a love to cross oceans for,
but I'd like to believe, if I ever were to feel it, that I'd have the courage to seize it.
And Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will.
All my love, Juliet
~Sophie's letter
Listen to me, very very carefully.
I live in London. A gorgeus, vibrant, historic city that I happen to love living in.
Yu live in New York, which is highly overrated.
But since the Atlantic Ocean is a bit wide to cross every day; swimming, boating or flying,
I suggest we flip for it.
And if those terms are unacceptable, leaving London will be a pleasure,
as long as you're waiting for me in the other side.
Because the truth is, Sophie, I am madly, deeply, truly, passionately in love with you.
~Charlie
*****