My Oxford Year
A literary flavour sweetens the formula of a surprisingly agreeable romantic drama from Netflix.
Underneath the arches: Sofia Carson
Courtesy of Netflix.
The Special Relationship may be on shaky ground at the moment, but in the movies the Americans still view England with stars in their eyes. At least, the exceptionally beautiful female protagonists of such streaming titles as Upgraded and My Fault: London have a habit of falling for impossibly rich posh boys from the Old Country. In this Netflix programmer, the template remains the same, with the can-do Anna De La Vega (Sofia Carson) having graduated summa cum laude from Cornell, who has Orwell, Jane Austen and Emily Brontë neatly arranged on her bookshelf and, when she leaves Oxford, already has a job lined up at Goldman Sachs. Anna explains that, “my parents told me I could do anything, and it never occurred to me not to try.” Oxford is where Bill Clinton went and, in Oxford Blues, where Rob Lowe pursued the lovely Lady Victoria Wingate, played by Amanda Payes. More importantly, in Anna’s book, it’s where Shelley, Tolkien and Oscar Wilde strolled beneath the arches.
Only last December we saw Sofia Carson in Carry-On, as the pregnant girlfriend of Taron Egerton’s TSA office Ethan Kopek. It was Christmas Eve and Ethan was promising that, “this Christmas is an exception. It’s a Happy Christmas, like they have in England.” Well, Sofia Carson is now in England herself and she passes muster as a student, even though the actress is 32. But My Oxford Year is knowing enough to drop a scene of Oxford Blues on TV and to see Carson’s Anna arrive at Oxford without a spot of rain in sight (even though, back in Queens, she had been warned how rainy the city is). The director Iain Morris, and his scriptwriters Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, know they are traversing a well-cobbled street and so trim as many clichés as they can before going full Mills & Boon. There is the gay best friend, the posh rich kid with the unfeasibly wealthy parents and the inevitable karaoke scene where connections are superglued. But unlike other entries in the genre, My Oxford Year has the wit and wisdom of Thoreau, Tennyson and Matthew Arnold to fall back on. And, when the going gets really tough, Sylvia Plath.
Anna has her future mapped out for her and is looking forward to her course on Victorian poetry with the esteemed Professor Styan (Barunka O’Shaughnessy). But on her very first day she discovers that Styan has been replaced by one of the latter’s students, the seemingly cocky, albeit incredibly handsome Jamie Davenport (Corey Mylchreest). He may be arrogant but he is deeply passionate and talks of the “despair, terror, beauty, wisdom and lust” of the form that consumes him. He also looks like an English Tom Cruise, albeit with the manner of Hugh Grant (pre-Heretic). We know where this is headed, but Iain Morris allows his story time to breathe, while Isabella Summers’ score never pushes its luck, just gently squeezing our emotions in the background. And the dialogue is genuinely funny.
During her first visit to a pub, Anna is lectured by one drunken flirt that all Americans are not stupid, just “blunt and naïve, which I happen to find endearing,” he says. “Naïve about geography, world history, your gun culture, your impact on other countries, your wilful celebration of ignorance. And your absolute inability to understand irony and sarcasm.” Quite what the latter would say now about America is anybody’s guess. Nonetheless, Anna adapts to the alien culture, learns how to make a V sign and even succumbs to the greasy allure of the kebab, while the drone shots of the Dreaming Spires prove suitably breathtaking. Carson and Mylchreest generate enough chemistry to keep the plot well-oiled and there are good supporting turns from Harry Trevaldwyn, Esmé Kingdom and Poppy Gilbert. One might even call My Oxford Year a guilty pleasure, particularly for those with a love for all things Oxbridge and poetic.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Sofia Carson, Corey Mylchreest, Dougray Scott, Catherine McCormack, Harry Trevaldwyn, Esmé Kingdom, Poppy Gilbert, Nikhil Parmar, Romina Cocca, Barunka O’Shaughnessy, Marty Cruickshank, Barney Harris.
Dir Iain Morris, Pro Laura Quicksilver and George Berman, Ex Pro Sofia Carson, Screenplay Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, Ph Remi Adefarasin, Pro Des Catrin Meredydd, Ed Victoria Boydell and Kristina Hetherington, Music Isabella Summers, Costumes Claire Finlay-Thompson, Sound Rob Turner and Samir Foco.
Temple Hill Entertainment-Netflix.
112 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 1 August 2025. Cert. 12.
