Rent Only You (2019)

A frustrating film (Star rating given for story/film theme, NOT acting or direction) - Only You review by TB

I was interested in Only You after hearing very positive critical reaction, and also for the casting of Josh O'Connor, who was incredible in God's Own Country (If you haven't seen it, put it on your rental list once you've finished reading this.)

I want to get the positives out of the way, because I had a very big problem with this film, but it has nothing to do with and is not the fault of the actors. The performances, especially Laia Costa, are great. The direction as a whole and the cinematography are also brilliant, and the soundtrack is discreet but powerful.

But I have a massive, massive problem with this film: (slight spoiler, but after reading the blurb, not a big revelation) The whole thrust of this film is centred around the difficulty of Elena trying to conceive a baby; you see the ups and the downs, coupled with the frustrations which they then take out on each other. But nowhere in this film in any way, shape or form, is adoption of a child even considered or mentioned.

And the reason I have such a problem with this is because there is an adoption crisis in this country, with hundreds of thousands of children who desperately want a loving home/parents who are being left in care. So to sit and watch one definitely vacuous character, and another who becomes it over time; constantly talking about having children/a family and the importance they attach to it, yet not making any effort after not conceiving naturally to transform a non-biological child's life, is actually quite sick-making.

I hope that Harry Wootliff, who is absolutely a talented filmmaker and from the technical aspect of this film is a woman to watch, will maybe look at this subject in a different light that does involve adoption. Because after watching this, whilst I feel sympathy and compassion for any woman who has gone through the difficulty of not being able to naturally have children, to not even try to change an already living child's life is not something I can recommend

nothing memeorable . - Only You review by robin

Spoilers beware.. Decently acted directed and filmed

.. Couple falls in love tries for a kid... And ultimalty love wins... Yeah tried and tested formula.. but the story ultimately fails to make its mark in this genre.

Tbh.. it was a touch boring

Excellent - Only You review by BE

A very grown up movie about an initial loving relationship which evolves into the couple taking their very real frustrations out on one another. This was due to the fact that the female was unable to conceive of a wished for child.  With hindsight, this may not have been a bad thing.  They started living together after a whirlwind romance and whilst physically well bonded, had no time at all to really get to know each other over any length of time. Thus, it may not have been a good idea to bring a newborn onto the scene when their relationship needed to mature into a strong and healthy one. Once this had been achieved, I should have thought that if they still felt they wanted to extend their 'family', hopefully they would be open minded enough to look at adoption. The movie was extremely well crafted and the acting so natural, it was almost like being a 'fly on the wall'.   The soundtrack was also very good.