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For anyone who loves a good romance set against a picturesque backdrop, “My Oxford Year” might just be your next Netflix obsession. Starring Sofia Carson and “Queen Charlotte” star Corey Mylchreest, this new movie tells a story of love, ambition, and the detours that life sometimes throws our way.
Directed by Iain Morris, best known for creating “The Inbetweeners,” and based on Julia Whelan’s bestselling novel, the movie hits Netflix on August 1 — and, given that this is a love story set in and around Oxford University, it’s chock-a-block with literary references, heart-swelling moments, and storybook romance that will no doubt sweep viewers off their feet.
“I chose not to visit all the locations where we would be filming, because I wanted to save my honest reaction to witnessing the magic of Oxford for the first time, for once the cameras were rolling,” Carson tells Netflix’s Tudum. “To truly experience Oxford just as Anna would.” She continues: “Our story is a film that in every frame reaffirms the belief that life is too short to not live it in love. To not live it in joy.”
What to expect from My Oxford Year on Netflix
The story in “My Oxford Year” is focused on Anna (Carson), an American student who arrives at Oxford ready to take on a prestigious poetry program — and with her life seemingly mapped out ahead of her. That plan quickly veers off-course, however, when she meets Jamie (Mylchreest), a charming local who, as fate would have it, turns out to be her teaching assistant. Their relationship begins with a very British meet-cute involving a puddle and a runaway ex, but soon deepens into something more meaningful.
Filming took place on location, and the iconic university setting plays a major role in the film’s aesthetic. The film also stars Dougray Scott and Catherine McCormack as Jamie’s parents, plus Harry Trevaldwyn, Esmé Kingdom, and Poppy Gilbert as Anna’s Oxford crew. Everyone involved, from producers at Temple Hill (the team behind “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Twilight”) to Carson’s real-life mom Laura Char Carson (also an executive producer), worked to craft a story about the kind of love that leaves a mark — even if it doesn’t last forever.
Morris sums it up best: He says in his own Netflix interview that he hopes watching “My Oxford Year” will allow viewers to “run through all the emotions associated with the wonderful, noisy, chaotic, unexpected, funny, heartbreaking experience that is falling in love.”
