The Letter Never Sent
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: John Crowley
Writer: Andrew Doster
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, Ben Feldman, Alyla Browne
Plot: New York, 1957.
A posh apartment on the Upper West Side. Eleanor "Ellie" Mercer (Scarlett Johansson) sits at the table dressed in an elegant purple dressing gown, absentmindedly stirring the coffee in her seemingly perfect kitchen. Richard (Rupert Friend), her husband, is impeccably dressed in a business suit, immersed in the newspaper where he is reading the latest news. The conversation between the two is polite but rather brief, formal and lacking in great warmth. Richard finishes his coffee, picks up his briefcase, absentmindedly kisses his wife's forehead and puts on his coat before leaving. Ellie remains alone in the silent kitchen, watching out the window as the sun begins to illuminate the skyline of Manhattan, but her gaze is lost in space.
Ellie works in the library in the antiquarian section, enjoying the maintenance and restoration of them. Her hands touch with precision and delicacy the fragile pages of an old, very damaged volume probably written during the Civil War. At one point a colleague approaches with a pile of books just brought by a lady who had to clear out the attic. Ellie nods with a tight and distant smile.
At a certain point in the work day she starts checking that pile of books to see if there are any hidden gems that can be recovered. While leafing through an old novel, she finds a yellowed sheet with a handwritten poem. She reads it slowly, caressing the paper with her fingers. The name at the bottom: James Gallagher (Jonathan Bailey). The book falls to the floor, a sudden pang in her chest pierces her chest.
A blurry memory: a summer evening, laughter under a streetlight, a stolen kiss on the stairs of the house with James. After a few moments Ellie jumps to her feet, visibly upset. The woman begins to walk back and forth between the shelves while suddenly she stops in front of the large window when strangely a flash lights up the sky since the sun had been out shortly before. Ellie watches the street as a heavy downpour begins to fall and enjoys watching a young engaged couple run to shelter from the rain under a canopy while she thinks back with a bit of nostalgia to a similar event that happened to her with James about ten years earlier.
Given the nostalgia that hit her that afternoon, she decides to stop by her mother's house, who died a few months ago. The air is thick with dust and memories. Climbing the creaking stairs, she heads towards the attic. Ellie rummages through old boxes in the attic of her late mother's house. Forgotten memories: black and white photographs, two from the cinema, an old light blue ball gown. At a certain point she sees her old diary whose existence she had forgotten, something seems to protrude from it that falls to the ground near her feet. She bends down to pick it up and notices that it is a letter whose paper is now worn and yellowed by time. It is addressed to her but it does not look like it had never been opened. Her name is written on the envelope in a familiar hand. Time seems to stop as she looks at it and her heart beats fast, maybe too fast. She puts her hands on her chest for a moment to calm herself and then with shaking hands, she opens it carefully for fear of accidentally tearing it.
Her pupils move as her eyes scan the lines: declarations of love, sweet words, promises of a future together, an invitation to Grand Central Station before he left the city.
Ellie puts a hand to her mouth, shocked. She never received that letter. Ellie slowly sits on the floor leaning her back against the wall clutching the paper to her chest as her eyes start to get watery. She dries her eyes and leaves the house.
It's evening. Ellie is sitting on the edge of the bed, the letter still in her hands. Richard comes home from work later than usual, says goodbye to his wife, hangs up his coat and then pours himself a glass of whiskey saying he's not hungry because he had dinner with some colleagues. Ellie watches him for a while and then gets up from the bed. She hesitates, then shows him the letter. She asks if he knew anything about it. Richard stiffens for a moment and remains silent for a few moments as she presses him. Richard finally answers, his tone measured, almost defensive. He says that maybe his mother had hidden the letter or that maybe it was a coincidence. Ellie looks into his eyes, realizing that he is probably lying to her. At that point she decides to change the subject as she walks over to the window looking at the city lights that twinkle.
During the night Ellie doesn't sleep a wink, lying in bed next to Richard, who is fast asleep. The room is immersed in darkness, illuminated only by the light of the street lamps filtered through the curtains. James's letter is on the nightstand. Ellie takes it and rereads it again, slowly.
In her mind, hazy and fragmented memories intertwine with events that could have happened: James Gallagher, kind and charming, looks at her with adoration. They are in a coffee shop, laughing, their fingers touching. A kiss in the rain. The sound of a departing train. He turns to look at her one last time.
Ellie returns to the present, closes her eyes, clutching the letter to her chest. She whispers "What if I had read this letter years ago?"
The next morning she gets up very early, prepares breakfast for her husband and leaves her a note. She takes a small suitcase and leaves.
Ellie walks through the people of Grand Central Station, the heart of New York until she stops exactly in the spot where James had asked her to meet him so many years ago. She stays there for a while and then looks around. Then she confidently buys a ticket to Chicago. As the announcer's voice echoes in the station, Ellie clutches her suitcase and gets on the train. The train departs. She looks out the window as she begins her journey in search of her lost youthful love.
Ellie walks among the austere buildings of the University of Chicago. She has an old address scribbled on a notebook in her hand. Sitting in front of her is Thomas Wade (Ben Feldman), a former classmate of James who she had met back then. He has aged since she remembered him in the past, but when he talks about James his eyes light up. Thomas shows her an old photo: him and James, young and smiling, in front of a typewriter. Then she tells her that James had been trying to contact her for months after he wrote her the letter, but when he never got a response, he finally left Chicago, brokenhearted. Ellie bites her lip, looks away. She knows it’s because of the unreceived letter and thinks there might have been more lost somewhere. Thomas says he hasn’t heard from James in a couple of years when he was in Denver. When she leaves the coffee shop, she pauses for a moment in the light rain. The wind caresses her face. She wraps her coat around herself, then goes to buy a train ticket to Denver.
Inn in the Rocky Mountains.
The inn is modest, but welcoming. The owner, an elderly man, welcomes her kindly. Ellie shows him an old photo of James. The man nods, recognizing him. He leads her into a room where, years ago, James had stayed for a while. The room is small, dusty, with an old desk against the window. Ellie approaches, running her fingers over the worn surface, as if she could feel James’ presence. Then she notices something: a dusty old literary magazine on a shelf. She flips through it quickly. Inside, a poem signed J.G. The words speak of a lost love, of a woman she has never forgotten. Ellie clutches the magazine to her chest. She stops in front of the window, the sunset light coloring the mountains a golden orange. A stronger beat in her chest. In her letters she often speaks of San Francisco. She makes a decision. The next train is to San Francisco.
Ellie walks through the foggy streets of San Francisco. She finds a bookstore that sells old volumes of poetry. She flips through the books on the shelves until she finds the name she was looking for: James Gallagher. The bookseller, a kindly older woman, tells her that James was a shy but brilliant man, beloved by his students. She gives her the address of the university where he taught. Ellie hesitates for a moment, then hurries out of the bookstore.
Ellie enters the university and explains the situation to one of the secretaries and is shown a seat. Ellie waits in silence in the small office, tapping her feet nervously, surrounded by shelves full of books. An elderly professor enters and looks at her curiously when he hears the name James Gallagher. In a calm voice, he tells her what she didn't want to hear: James, already a widower for years, died a few months earlier in a car accident. A sudden silence fills the room. Ellie feels faint, clenches her fists to keep from shaking. Her mind goes blank and everything around her echoes. Her journey is over. She's come too late. But the professor hands her something: a bundle of unpublished, never-before-published letters and poems. He tells her that James has never stopped writing about her. Ellie takes the letters with shaking hands. Her face is a mixture of pain and love. As Ellie leaves, the professor tells her that James also had a daughter named Margaret (Alyla Browne) who is now an orphan and living for now with the secretary who took her in shortly before.
Ellie sits at a wooden table near the window of a café, watching the steam rise from her cup of coffee. Her eyes are dull, as if all energy has left her. In front of her is Margaret Gallagher, James’s daughter who has agreed to meet her. She has the same intense gaze as her father, but with a curiosity and kindness all her own. At one point Margaret tells how her father often spoke of a woman from the past, a love never fully lived. “If only he had received that letter, my life would have been different,” he always told her. Ellie holds the cup in her hands. She breathes deeply, trying to control the emotion that closes her throat. Margaret takes out an old tin box and gently pushes it towards her. Inside, unsent letters, all written by James to Ellie. His words, his love trapped between the lines for years. Ellie leafs through them slowly. Her eyes fill with tears, but this time it’s not just pain. It’s also gratitude. Margaret takes her hand. "You can't change the past. But you can still change the present." Ellie looks at her, absorbs those words. For the first time in days, she feels her heart beating with new determination.
Ellie gets out of a taxi in front of her apartment building in New York.
Richard is in the living room, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He turns, surprised to see her there. He didn't think she would return. Ellie comes in slowly, puts down her suitcase. The silence between them is heavy. Then, in a firm voice, she asks him again if he knew about the letter. Richard lowers his gaze. For a long moment he says nothing. Then he nods, exhausted. He confesses that he found it years ago and hid it. He did it because he was afraid that Ellie would choose James. That she would leave him. And so he had decided for her, condemning her to a life she hadn't really chosen. Ellie watches him with eyes full of pain and anger. But then something inside her breaks. He's not the only one who has chosen. She has also let time take her away, without ever fighting for herself. Richard asks her if she can forgive him. Ellie doesn’t answer. She turns, looking at the window, the lights of New York reflected in her eyes
Then a deep breath and a light that tears the sky while she hears a buzzing in her ears.
The sound of a heart monitor fills the room. Ellie has been in a coma for days, lying on a hospital bed, her eyes closed. Wires and tubes keep her connected to the machines. Her face pale, still. Next to her, Richard holds her hand. He is destroyed, his eyes red from unshed tears. A voiceover says, "Mr. Mercer, your wife had a sudden heart attack while she was at work while she was sorting out some old letters and fell and hit her head hard. On the bedside table is the letter she was holding when she fell ill. A letter from a certain James Gallagher that he had written to a certain Ellie Fitzpatrick in the early 1900s.
Richard leans over her, whispering something. But Ellie probably can't hear him because she's still in her dream, a completely invented dream.
Ellie is standing on the platform, with her suitcase in her hand. The train to San Francisco is about to leave. The sun filters through the windows, illuminating the station with a golden and surreal light. She turns. James is there. Young, beautiful as she remembered him. He smiles at her. For a moment, Ellie feels the desire to get on that train, to experience that love that was denied to her. But then something changes. A distant sound... the beep of a hospital monitor. James looks at her sweetly, telling her to wake up. She stares at him, shaking her head. He takes her hand, squeezing it gently, saying he can’t live in the past forever. Ellie closes her eyes, holding her breath. When she opens them again…James is gone. The train leaves without her. Ellie turns slowly and the station slowly begins to disappear.
Ellie’s eyes snap open. The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor jolts her back to reality. She’s breathing hard, as if she’s been holding her breath for too long. Richard jumps up from the chair beside the bed, in disbelief. “Ellie! Oh God, you’re awake…” Ellie blinks, disoriented. The hospital room is white, cold, far from the vivid world she’d just left. She tries to speak, but her throat is dry. Richard takes her hand, his eyes shining with relief as he calls for doctors and paramedics, yelling that Ellie is awake.
Ellie swallows, her thoughts racing. James… Margaret… the letter. For a moment, it all seems real. But then… she realizes the truth. James Gallagher never existed. Ellie Fitzpatrick wasn’t her.
She’d entered that story that wasn’t hers, the moment she’d touched that letter. She’d experienced a love that was never hers, felt the pain of choices she’d never made. Slowly, she turns to the bedside table. The letter is there, still open, the ink slightly faded by time.
A few days later, Ellie walks slowly, still clearly weak, wrapped in a coat with Richard under her arm. The man makes a funny joke and Ellie giggles amusedly. The autumn leaves fall around her. Ellie seems calm and serene as she has never been and even the relationship with her husband seems to have improved.
The two sit on a bench, Ellie takes out the letter from James Gallagher. She reads it carefully one last time, this time knowing that it does not belong to her, yet feeling that somehow it has changed her forever. Then, with a delicate gesture, she closes it and places it next to her. A little girl approaches and, curious, picks it up. She looks at it with a shy smile, as if a new journey into someone's mind is about to begin. Ellie gets up and with Richard they walk away together, returning to the hospital and she walks away.
During the credits ...
A librarian sorts old documents in the archives. Among the yellowed sheets, a photo falls to the floor. An old, faded portrait. It shows a man with a kind gaze, James Gallagher, and next to him... a woman who looks incredibly like Ellie.
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