First Impressions: Pretty, Polished, and Slow in a Good Way
When My Oxford Year started, I immediately noticed how clean and elegant everything looked. Oxford itself feels like a character in the movie, sunlight on old stone, ivy on ancient walls, tea cups in cozy book-filled rooms. The pacing is slow, but not in a boring way. It’s more like the movie knows it’s beautiful and isn’t in a rush to prove it.
At first, it felt like Anna (Sofia Carson) was going to be very, very alone here, a foreigner trying to fit in. But slowly, she finds people who welcome her in. That part felt warm. Not fake Hallmark-card warm, but the kind of warmth you feel when you realise oh, I’m not as alone as I thought I was.
The Student-Professor Chemistry That Took Time
Anna’s poetry professor, Jamie (Corey Mylchreest), enters the picture, and honestly, the chemistry between them didn’t hit me right away. It was… fine. Polite. A little stiff. I was watching, thinking, “Okay, where’s the spark?” But slowly, it grew on me. By the middle of the film, I was rooting for them.
That First Kiss… Or Attempted Kiss
Now, let’s talk about the moment. The first kiss or rather, the attempt is one of the most painfully awkward scenes I’ve seen in a romance in a while. Anna leans in… he pulls back.
And me? I literally had to pause the movie, take a stroll, and walk it off. I felt the second-hand embarrassment in my bones.
But you know what? That’s why it’s actually honest. Romance isn’t always perfectly lit and perfectly timed like most movies make it seem. It’s messy. People misread signals. They get scared. They make awkward moves. Life is embarrassing, and this scene nailed that in a way that made me cringe and appreciate it at the same time.
Later, when they finally do connect, it feels more real because of that earlier disaster. It’s like they earned it.
For the Literature Girlies Only:
Let’s be honest: this is a movie for a very specific audience, literature girlies. If you’ve read Victorian poetry, if the word “Bodleian” makes you excited, if you love the fantasy of studying in an old library with rain tapping against the windows, you’re going to love this.
No guy is watching this willingly unless he’s either trying to impress someone or is already deep into the world of British period dramas.
The Me Before You Feeling I Couldn’t Ignore
From early on, I had this gut feeling, this is going to be sad. It gave me Me Before You vibes instantly. You know, the kind of romance where you just know one person isn’t going to make it to the end? And sure enough, my instinct was right.
The moment it’s revealed what’s going on with Jamie, everything clicks into place. The rest of the film becomes about living fully, loving fully, even when you know time is limited. It’s bittersweet. You cry, but you also get why it had to be that way.
Final Thoughts: Why It Worked For Me
It’s not perfect. It’s a little predictable. But it’s beautiful. And it’s human.
I think that’s why it worked for me, because it wasn’t trying to give us a flawless romance. It gave us hesitation, missteps, awkwardness, and that brutal reminder that life doesn’t follow the perfect script we imagine.
When the credits rolled, I felt like I’d just spent a slow, rainy afternoon in Oxford with people who could have been real. That’s a rare thing for a romance film these days.
