Given the budget, logistics and small cast required, it is perhaps surprising there are relatively few British takes on the US indie romantic drama staple. Only You, the feature debut of TV screenwriter Harry Wootliff, is that rare effort that could go toe-to-toe with its American counterpart, a passionate, moving love story told with nuance and heart. It’s a little bit Linklater, a little bit Andrew Haigh (Weekend), but Wootliff’s film, helped by her two magnetic leads, Laia Costa and Josh O’Connor, creates a spark and an intimacy that feels fresh and real.
Only You is less a May-to-September romance, more May-to-July. Refreshingly, Spanish council worker Elena (Costa) is nine years older than English Ph.D student Jake (O’Connor). The pair hook up on a Glasgow New Year’s Eve through the oldest meet-cute ruse in the book — grabbing a cab at the same time — but somehow Costa, O’Connor and Wootliff make it work. Soon they are back at Costa’s homely flat, flirting to Elvis Costello’s ‘I Want You’, the sex discreetly played out on hands. Their one-night stand turns into a living-together-thing and, surrounded by Elena’s friends with kids, they decide to try for a baby. Yet it’s here that their bubble begins to burst,the couple struggling to conceive — no film has more weeing on sticks — as a lengthy IVF process tests their bond to the limit.
Wootliff’s writing makes a down-to-earth but clever use of the age gap, mining it for both humour and drama. She also displays an intelligent use of elision, letting us fill in gaps in the storytelling without spoon-feeding. Early doors the relationship rings sweet, sexy and authentic. God’s Own Country’s O’Connor is all boyish charm with a mile-wide romantic streak but it’s Costa, best known for one-take wonder Victoria, who has the emotional heavy lifting to do, trying to process feelings of inadequacy and guilt all the while facing a whirlwind of baby parties and child talk.
When the couple move into their conception woes, the drama gets slightly caught in a holding pattern which might indeed reflect Elena and Jake’s plight but starts to get repetitive. Still, Wootliff’s filmmaking is a strong mixture of the thoughtful — sex is used as a storytelling device to subtly mark the state of play in the relationship — and the instinctive — DP Shabier Kirchner’s camerawork is often fluid and close up, playing fast and loose with focus to make things feel immediate and intimate. Elsewhere Only You is also a visually enticing film, the streets and parks of Glasgow, so often depicted as a tad gloomy, a very pretty place to fall in love. Or maybe that’s what Costa and O’Connor do for you: make you see the world through their eyes.
