Film

The Last Letter from Your Lover

Name: The Last Letter from Your Lover
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2021
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Felicity Jones, Callum Turner, Joe Alwyn, Nabhaan Rizwan

A dual-timeline romance that weaves between a contemporary journalist unravelling a decades-old love story and the passionate affair itself. It's tender and elegantly crafted, driven by the mystery of two people who couldn't be together. For anyone who loves letters, longing, and the idea that some loves leave permanent marks.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a sweeping, tear-soaked romance told across two decades, where the pleasure lies in swooning old letters and the way the past keeps tugging at the present.

Skip it if you find lovelorn melodrama hard to sit through, since its tone leans heavily on longing and sighs, and the central romance can feel more admired than truly felt.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a little under two hours of lingering, mostly unhurried scenes that move between two eras and let the letters do much of the talking.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Notebook2004

A masterclass in sweeping romantic drama across timelines. Like *Last Letter*, it trusts that yearning and commitment matter more than plot twists, and finds beauty in the everyday ache of loving someone.

But The sincerity can feel heavy-handed if you're allergic to unironic sentiment. It doesn't apologize for wanting you to cry.

Atonement2007

A love story fractured by a single lie, told across decades with immaculate control. Same DNA: letters as emotional core, the past refusing to stay past, impossible circumstances that haunt you.

But It's slower and more formally ambitious than most romances. The ending will not give you what you want, and that's the point.

Normal People2020

A television series that treats romance like *Last Letter* does—as something that defines you whether you're together or not. Intimate, sexually honest, about the grip one person can have on your entire life.

But It's relentlessly bleak about class and money. If you want your romance to feel hopeful, this will frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Last Letter from Your Lover

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Room with a View1986

Both explore love as self-discovery, and both ask what freedom looks like when the people you love and the life you want are in conflict.

The 1960s setting and class-crossed lovers connect it directly, but the real link is subtler: both are about women discovering themselves through forbidden love, then facing the cost of either choice. It's sensual and intelligent in ways that sneak up on you.

But It's British period drama, which means it trusts you to hear what isn't said. The pacing is deliberate. If you need things spelled out, it will seem slow.

The Time Traveler's Wife2009

Another story about loving someone across impossible circumstances and fragmented time. It has the same ache: what would you sacrifice to be with them, and what do you lose in the trying?

But The premise can feel gimmicky if you're not bought in early. Some find it too science-fiction-flavored for a romance.

Carol2015

A 1950s love story about two women caught between desire and duty. Quiet, achingly restrained, and about the small rebellions we make when circumstances won't let us love freely.

But It moves slowly. There are long stretches of looking and not speaking. If you need plot momentum, you'll find it static.

Brooklyn2015

A young woman torn between two homes and two loves, told with the same gentle intelligence. It understands that the romantic choice is also always a choice about who you become.

But It's understated to the point of quietness. Some viewers find it too slight, too willing to let feeling do the work instead of drama.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society2018

A post-WWII romance told through letters and discovery, with the same sense that the past shapes the present. Warm, nostalgic, about connection forged in difficult times.

But It edges toward cozy romance rather than dramatic passion. If you want your love stories to burn, this one glows.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society poster

Me Before You2016

Another story about falling for someone you shouldn't, told across privilege and circumstance. It has the same commitment to exploring what love asks of us, and what we owe each other.

But The central ethical premise divides people sharply. Some feel it exploits tragedy for sentiment; others find it genuinely moving.

The Best of Me2014

A Nicholas Sparks film about high-school sweethearts reunited decades later, set across two timelines like *Last Letter*. Unashamed about nostalgia and the weight of the road not taken.

But It doesn't reinvent the formula. If you've tired of Sparks' particular blend of fate and tearfulness, this won't convince you.

Possession2002

Both center on a woman piecing together a historical love story through letters, and both blur the line between her investigation and her own emotional awakening.

A contemporary woman discovers love letters between two Victorian poets and becomes obsessed with their story—the same premise as *Last Letter*, but executed as a mystery-thriller with Jeremy Northam and Gwyneth Paltrow. It's far more Gothic and strange, but the emotional core is identical.

But It's darker and more architecturally complex. The narrative can feel cluttered if you're not paying close attention. Some find it overwrought.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Both understand love as something that fundamentally changes you, and both are uninterested in happy endings—only in whether the love itself was real.

A French period film about an artist and her subject falling in love over the course of a painting. No letters, no dual timeline—but the same lyrical intensity about impossible love, the same belief that desire can be revolutionary, and the same gorgeous melancholy when it ends. It's formally daring and sensuously alive.

But It's slow, wordless in long stretches, and entirely unconcerned with plot. It's also in French. If you want narrative momentum or dialogue-driven drama, it will feel abstract and frustrating.