Schwab 1

Abbey Schwab

Professor Megan Westhoff

Performance Studies

4 December 2019

Movie Breakdown: Love, Rosie

All six elements of Aristotle’s dramatic structure work together to make a complete and

whole picture, just like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Character, plot, language, music, spectacle,

and thought unite to transport the audience throughout the duration of the production. The movie

I chose to analyze was Love, Rosie. I had never seen this movie before, but Netflix suggested it

to me. The synopsis drew me in right away because I could relate to what the movie was about.

After I finished watching it, I was inspired to write about this film because of the way the

characters touched my heart.

Rosie and Alex are the main characters in the film. Rosie is the focus. Her life has not

always been easy; therefore, she is resilient, driven, sometimes naïve, and has a heart ready to

love. Rosie is portrayed by Lily Collins. She does a fantastic job of captivating the audience with

her raw emotions. She cried, loved, lost, and suffered throughout the movie and brought that to

life with her face, body, and voice. I truly believed every emotion and hardship that Rosie went

through because of Lily’s true talent.

Alex is Rosie’s best friend and her ultimate love interest. He is supportive, egotistical,

confused, and scared. Alex is portrayed by Sam Claflin. Sam does a fantastic job of giving the

audience reasons to continue to love Alex. He truly loves Rosie, but his character is insecure and

unsure how to tell her how he feels. He portrays his character in a way that allows the audience

to ultimately root for him and his successes because his insecurities are relatable. Overall, the

characters were very effectively portrayed and carried the plot along perfectly.
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The plot follows Rosie and Alex throughout their lives starting at age eighteen. Rosie and

Alex have known each other since they were five, but their relationship becomes complicated

when Rosie and Alex kiss on her birthday. Only Alex remembers they kissed because Rosie was

too drunk to remember. They both date lots of different people throughout the movie, and both

are jealous when their affections are being shown to someone else. They plan on moving to

Boston together to go to college, but after a one-night stand with another guy, Rosie gets

pregnant. She hides it from Alex, so he can go and pursue his dreams. She works hard to provide

a life for her and her daughter, while Alex is seemingly living the perfect life in Boston.

The plot follows very closely with a climatic structure where finally at the very end after

divorces, miscommunication, and fears, they admit their feelings for each other. The movie

could be categorized as a melodrama because love wins in the end, but there is a lot of domestic

tragedy in the film as well. The plot was effective because it kept me engaged and yearning to

know what would happen next, but it was ineffective in some ways because I became weary of

terrible things happening. The plot could not have existed without the use of language.

The language of the movie was interesting. It really developed the time and place of the

film. The setting was England and both actors had English accents and used British slang. Some

of the movie took place in Boston, so there was American slang used as well. With all the

different accents, it really added culture to the movie. Each character had a different accent and

used different phrasing and slang. The language was very relevant and peppered with expletives,

as well as British swear words, to show frustration and anger. Rosie and Alex would often use

the word, “Bollocks” which is British slang for testicles. I found it funny because the American

characters in the movie were offended, when we use vulgar language all the time. Rosie gives a

speech at Alex’s wedding, and there is one phrase that perfectly captures the whole movie. “It
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was no ordinary friendship. We were inseparable, constantly being separated. I’ve realized that

no matter where you are or who you’re with, I will always truly, completely love you” (Ditter).

The language was very effective in establishing time, place, and defining the characters. The

movie not only used language to aid the actors in their portrayal of their characters, but music

played a big role in expressing their emotions.

The music was very ingenious, and there seemed to be a song for each big moment in the

plot. Not every song had lyrics, but every song had a pop vibe to it. Sometimes the music would

be soft in the background; other times it would be loud and energetic. There is a scene where

Rosie is getting married to a man who is not her true love, and Alex is moving out of his

apartment he shared with his ex-girlfriend. During this scene, “Littlest Things” by Lily Allen, is

playing in the background. The lyrics sung by Lily Allen go perfectly with the scene, “Dreams of

you and me and it seems, it seems that I can’t shake those memories. I wonder if you have the

same dreams too.” Another song that perfectly captures the mood being felt by the characters is

“F**k You” by Lily Allen. Rosie finds out her husband is cheating on her, and she goes and

busts him while he is with his mistress. The clean lyrics sung by Lily Allen say, “Cause we hate

what you do and we hate your whole crew. So, please don’t stay in touch.” The music was one of

the most effective elements of the whole movie. Although spectacle was not as strong as music,

it did play a vital role in the movie.

One of the weaker elements of the movie was spectacle because not many of the visual

elements were extremely mesmerizing. The beginning and the end of the movie had the most

spectacle. In the beginning club scene, there was high energy with colorful strobe lights and lots

of dancing figures. The end of the movie takes place at Rosie’s hotel on the ocean. It pans out to

the beautiful, blue water outside the hotel room window. The overall visual elements are brought
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out in the English cobblestone streets, stone houses, and local shops that decorated the landscape.

When they switched locations to Boston, they were brought out in the New England skyscrapers,

busy streets, and apartment buildings. Spectacle was not the strongest element, but it was

effective for the location and desired atmosphere of the movie. Not only do we see things with

our eyes during a movie, we also feel things in our hearts, which is where the element of thought

comes in.

One of my favorite and most effective elements in the movie was thought. Throughout

the movie, both the characters and the audience learn lessons. The moral of the story is that when

we become disheartened, many times life’s roadblocks are detours that lead us to our true

destination. For example, Rosie thinks her life is over when she accidentally gets pregnant, but in

the end, she gets everything she wants and more. While Alex thinks he has always had

everything he has ever wanted, in the end, he realizes he has been chasing after something he has

always had in front of him. That something was Rosie. The movie teaches us to set aside our

fears and be honest with ourselves and others. In the final scene when Rosie and Alex finally

find each other and admit their feelings, they realize it was one kiss on Rosie’s eighteenth

birthday that set the course for their entire lives.

None of the elements would have been effective on their own but together they made the

movie enjoyable and entertaining. There were elements that were stronger than others, but where

one was weak, another one excelled. The language, music, spectacle, and plot helped develop

each character while the element of thought brought it all together to teach us a lesson about

friends, hard times, and never giving up. If you do not give up on your dreams, just maybe, they

will come true.

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Works Cited:

Allen, Lily. “F**k You.” It’s Not Me, It’s You, Regal Recordings, 2009.

Allen, Lily. “Littlest Things.” Alright, Still, Parlophone, 2006.

Ditter, Christian. Love, Rosie. Paramount, 2014.