One Day (Film)

On graduation day - July 15, 1988 - Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) are involved in a mild and awkward romance. Before they go their separate ways, they agree to remain friends.

For the rest of the Lone Scherfig-directed film, we visit Emma and Dex, not always physically together, on that same day each year for the next two decades.

Emma dreams of being a writer, but is stuck waitressing. Dex becomes host of an MTV-like programme and falls out of favour with his dad.

Through all their personal trials and relocations, their friendship remains intact, thanks to letters, phone calls and occasional visits. It's obvious they have feelings for each other. That's meant to be the glue that keeps them together.

So why don't they just hook up? The reasons preventing them - distance, other partners (whom they never love) - don't seem like legitimate barriers.

The framing device - the same day each year - offers a unique way to structure the story. However, it is not explored to its full potential. If One Day had been shot conventionally, not much meaning would have been lost.