One Day follows the emotional journey of university friends Emma and Dexter and their subsequent intertwining lives after an awkward night together on graduation day, July 15th 1988. We revisit them on the anniversary of that day over the span of twenty years to see how the passage of time has both torn them apart and brought them back together. Based on David Nicholls’ best-selling novel of the same title, One Day is an insight into a familiar story of friendship, lessons in maturity, heartbreak and loss.
Directed by Lone Scherfig, the award-winning director of An Education, One Day is the heartbreaking tale of love that is known to us all.
The Plot
The story follows the lives of Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway), a down-to-earth Yorkshire girl from a working-class background full of drive and ambition to do something meaningful with her life, and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) a wealthy playboy who has it all, women, sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Having known each other in passing at university, their real meeting on graduation day, July 15th 1988 is when they actually spend any time together. Emma, who has always secretly liked Dexter, is so excited that something might develop between them that she drunkenly takes him back to her place to seduce him. In the early hours of the morning, with a dodgy record playing for background noise, Dexter tries to leave, only to be hounded by Emma. They come to the resolution to remain friends and spend the night together, but do not sleep with one another.
From then on, we visit them in snapshots over a span of twenty years on the anniversary of that day, July 15th. We see the time they spend together and the time they spend apart, and how their lives differ and clash, with careers, love, family and loss.
Following graduation, Dexter has landed himself a job on TV as the presenter of a show called Late Night Lock-In. It doesn’t really involve any talent or interview skill, just a lot of shouting at the cameras and being at ease with having scantily dressed women dancing around him, (many of which are his girlfriends). It’s his dream job.
Emma, meanwhile, is a waitress at a Mexican restaurant, staffed full of other graduates that haven’t quite found their path in life and other wannabes that are failing to live their creative dream, including admirer Ian (Rafe Spall) a would-be comedian, if only people could find him funny.
She dreams of being a writer but life keeps getting in the way and before long, she’s offered a management position at the restaurant. Dexter drops by to convince her to leave or if she accepts the position, her life is officially over.
The years pass by and Dexter is a mess. Fame and fortune has brought him nothing but trouble, he is taking illegal drugs, drinking heavily, going through copious amounts of women and falling out with his parents. Throughout his troubles, the person he always turns to is Emma, the only person in the world who loves and accepts him completely, that is, until one day she decides she’s had enough of being ignored, used and walked all over and promptly tells him their friendship is over.
Years pass again and they do not see each other. Dexter has matured, is planning to marry the woman he thinks he loves and even have a child with her, but all the time he still wonders about Emma.
Then when a mutual friend from university gets married, they finally meet again at the wedding and years of emotions come pouring back. Their friendship is rekindled, but for how long? And where will it lead? Will they? Won’t they?
After all, how long can happiness truly last?
The Thoughts
One Day was a thoroughly enjoyable rollercoaster ride of emotions and an equally watchable film. It had substance and the plot of the story, falling in and out of love is familiar to us all and obviously relatable. It may have men running for their lives from accompanying their female cohorts to see this film, because on a tear jerking scale of one to ten, this is a ten and easily on par with The Notebook.
Though I thought it had a shaky start, with the young jock Dexter being the most disagreeable and dislikeable character ever and the two leads not really seeming to gel, as Dexter’s character matured and became enlightened, so did the film. It became much more complex and well rounded and far more enjoyable to watch, with funny moments as well as pocket tissue popping ones too.
Fans of the book will know how the story ends but for the rest of us who had not read the novel, it was a semi-surprising shock. A shock in the sense that the end was saddening, but only semi-surprising because I could see it coming, after all, sad films can never end with happily ever after, can they?
As for the two lead actors, Jim Sturgess plays his finest character yet. Loud and obnoxious to start with in his younger years with little regard for anyone but himself, he develops into a complex and troubled character, sensitive, longing, hurting, with the desire to understand why?
Anne Hathaway continues to surprise me in her skill and portrayal. Gone are the days of The Princess Diaries, she has really stepped out and is determined to make a name for herself as a serious actress and already having been nominated for an academy award, she is not far off from doing so.
As for the accent: There has been much criticism over the accuracy of Hathaway’s Yorkshire accent. In truth, it was not the best, she seemed to slip in and out of her native North American accent, into Yorkshire and then finally land on a generic English accent, with the occasional Yorkshire twang thrown in. But in all honesty, this did not bother me at all. In my opinion, as long as she had an ‘English’ accent, that is all it needed for the story to be convincing. Yes, her character is supposed to be from Leeds and I suppose fans of the book will have wanted her accent to be more precise, but I really only noticed it, or the lack thereof when she slipped back into her American accent.
Not all actors are brilliant at maintaining an accent which is not natural to them. Hathaway may have disappointed on this level, but excelled in bringing Emma Morley to life on screen. In essence, I was enraptured by the story enough to ignore the Yorkshire accent coming and going. In contrast, it was wonderful to see Sturgess speaking with a posh playboy Southern accent, when he is in fact from Liverpool.
The direction by Lone Scherfig should also be praised. Though uncomfortable at times, she has a way of bringing a scene to the consumer and engulfing you in it. When Emma cries, you feel her pain, when young Dexter does something irritating, you feel angry and annoyed and when they are both happy, you do feel genuinely happy for them. Her skill in directing One Day, most certainly carefully crafted through An Education, shines through completely and the way the story is compiled, jumping from year to year, might make some viewers feel nauseated with confusion if directed by someone else, but you don’t with Scherfig’s clear cut direction. Though it is based on a novel, the story is convincing because the material is so relatable and this in itself, makes it a cinematic triumph. Store it in your DVD collection when it is released, sandwiched between The Notebook and Blue Valentine.
The Film Buzz Review Rating: 
(7/10)
UK Release Date: 24th August 2011
Director: Lone Scherfig
Writers: David Nicholls (screenplay and novel)
