Being a hardcore cinephile, I often feel like I don’t read as much as I should. Sure, I devour non-fiction books on the film industry plus a healthy number of screenplays, but I often slack off when it comes to novels. When I do pick one up, I seem to gravitate to brick-sized tomes: The nearly 1200-page Atlas Shrugged one year and more recently, Frank Herbert’s 794-page Dune (not including the appendices) which keep me busy turning pages for months at a time.
Perhaps I should look into the more digestible novella form which generally sits between 70-160 pages. Writer/director José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço certainly did as inspiration for his feature debut, adapting the 1774 novella The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. A literary sensation in Europe and supposedly Napoleon Bonaparte’s favourite book, this story of a young man’s semi-requited summer love and the romantic grey areas it exposes proves a durable and timeless classic that will no doubt find a new audience via this latest interpretation.
Sent to the big city of Toronto on an errand by his mother to retrieve a priceless artifact from his thieving aunt, the charming and carefree Werther (Douglas Booth) takes a detour when he falls head-over-heels for the enchanting Charlotte (Alison Pill) after a chance encounter followed by a magical evening at her birthday celebration. Unfortunately for the lovestruck young man, she is already engaged to the slightly older Albert (Suits alum Patrick J. Adams) who with both good looks and a successful law career, seemingly presents the complete package.
Not one to go home defeated with his tail between his legs, Werther extends his stay and befriends Charlotte in order to woo her away from her betrothed, much to the chagrin of his germaphobe best friend and valet(?) Paul (Jaouhar Ben Ayed) and the delight of Charlotte’s barely-adult younger sister Sissy (Iris Apatow) who has her own designs on our hero. As the wedding ticks ever closer, Charlotte finds herself beginning to gravitate into Werther’s orbit away from the more stable yet emotionally-distant Albert. Fans of the book may think they know the outcome, but may be surprised at the direction this adaptation takes in the end.
For someone woefully unfamiliar with the source material, Young Werther is a much-needed burst of fresh air in a national film landscape often bogged down by filmmaker insecurity and un-earned woe. There’s a breezy-carefree quality to Lourenço’s film that effortlessly buoys the spirit and leaves one rather melancholy when the whole experience is over. Even the darker moments of the screenplay are rendered with a deft touch that strikes the right balance between despair and underlying hilarity. After all, if we don’t laugh, we’ll cry.
Booth has star-quality to spare in the title role and Pill shines in her most appealing role in years with nary a weak link among their fellow cast members. The slightly anachronistic production design is hopelessly alluring and the expert cinematography pulses with the same energetic young love as its subjects. Toronto is shown off with the same level of care given to New York City in a 70s Woody Allen movie. The local tourism board may do well to save their budget for the year and simply use clips from the film as Canada’s biggest city has never looked more delectable on screen and that’s saying a lot coming from a dyed-in-the-wool Western Canadian.
I almost hesitate to review further films for the remainder of the year as common wisdom dictates going out on a high note and I can scarcely imagine a finer film to end the year on unless Lourenço has another buoyant feature up his sleeve he’s seeking to drop. But I’ll be content to eagerly await that sophomore effort. In the meantime, Young Werther merits my highest recommendation.
9/10
Young Werther screens as part of the 2024 Whistler Film Festival on Friday, Dec 6, 5pm @ The Village 8 Theatre