''If Only'' is a 2004 romantic

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Gil Junger Gil Junger (born November 7, 1954) is an American film and television director. He is best known for directing '' 10 Things I Hate About You'' (1999), his directorial film debut. He is a 1972 graduate of the Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, ...

and starring

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel serie ...

and Paul Nicholls.

Plot

Ian Wyndham ( Nicholls) is a British businessman who lives with his American musician girlfriend, Samantha Andrews ( Hewitt), in London. Taking us through a day in Ian and Samantha's life, the film opens by showing different events such as Samantha getting burnt on a kettle, Ian's watch breaking, Samantha getting

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

splashed on her clothing, and Ian being interrupted by Samantha during an important meeting at work. Samantha gets angry at Ian as he always treats her as his second priority and tells him that she just wants him to love her. Ian makes one last attempt to reconcile with Samantha. An angry Samantha gets into a taxi and asks Ian whether he is coming or not - he remains on the sidewalk. The taxi is T-boned, and Samantha dies. From the hospital, a heartbroken Ian returns to their apartment, finds Samantha's notebook and opens it, finding a song she was working on. He falls asleep clutching the notebook. When he awakes in the morning, he is shocked to hear Samantha talking, and wakes to find her in the bed beside him. He is scared at first but after the initial confusion, concludes that the previous day must have been a dream. Ian feels happy to have Samantha by his side. The events of the day are similar to those he already experienced in the "dream", although occurring at different times and in different ways. Ian is sure that he had a premonition and that at day's end, Samantha will die. Samantha does burn her hand; she gets soda on her blouse, but in different manners from the previous occasion. And Ian's watch remains in working order this time. Perhaps most important, his meeting seeking financial backing for his company's next project is successful, unlike before. After the meeting he takes a taxi, and finds that the driver is the same from the previous evening - who told Ian that the most important thing to be done was to really love Samantha. He chases around London until he locates Samantha, and convinces her to temporarily leave the city. At her choice, they take the train to Ian's home town, and climb his favorite hill. A sudden shower sends them into an isolated hut. There, he asks her how she would spend her last day if she only had one left. She replies that she would spend it with him. He declares his devotion to her, and they make love before the fire. Back in town they have drinks at his late father's favorite hangout. He describes his father, previously an idol to his son before he (and the rest of the town) lost his job when a factory closed, causing the father to become an alcoholic. The two return to London and Ian takes Samantha on the

London Eye The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid Tourist attractions in the ...

as another surprise. They return to their apartment and Ian surreptitiously removes a folded-up song from her notebook and takes it to a copy shop while Samantha travels to her concert with her violin. Before the show begins Ian gives the photocopied pages to an organizer. After the performance in which Samantha is a violinist, the organiser announces Samantha's name as the next performer. A nervous Samantha proceeds onto the stage as the orchestra begins to play the song printed on Ian's photocopied sheets. She sings the song she wrote for Ian in her notebook and the crowd burst into applause at her performance. Instead of going to Tantra, the restaurant that Ian had made reservations for, they eat at a more intimate restaurant of Samantha's choice, which Ian also enjoys. Ian gifts her a bracelet with meaningful charms. They have a nice time. After the dinner, as they are standing outside of Tantra, where they had eaten in his "dream", Ian tells Samantha why he loves her. As the taxi pulls over and Samantha gets in, she asks him again whether he is getting in or not. This time Ian gets in and sees that the cab driver is the same as before. As the clock strikes 11, the taxi (again) meets with a sideways collision. The hospital scene is repeated, where Samantha's friend runs to console the survivor of the crash. This time, however, Samantha was hurt but survived, while Ian is the victim. The film ends six months later, with Samantha packing up the apartment she shared with Ian while looking at his watch, and then performing onstage while wearing the bracelet that Ian gave her, with tears in her eyes but smiling, intercut with a scene of her finally getting to the top of the mountain that she tried to climb with Ian on that last day together.

Production and distribution

Filming was done between November 2002 and January 2003. The movie made its world premiere at the

Sarasota Film Festival The Sarasota Film Festival is a film festival located in Sarasota, Florida and held in April. Its mission is "to celebrate the art of filmmaking and the contribution of filmmakers by hosting an international film festival and developing year-long ...

in January 2004. However it was not picked up for US distribution. It went on to play around the world throughout late 2004 and 2005. American audiences were given a chance to see this film when it premiered on the American

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

television network on 15 January 2006. The film premiered on UK television on the Hallmark channel, on 28 July 2009.

Production and location

Filming locations in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

include (in chronological order): Kensington Park Road where their apartment is located; CityPoint where Ian works;

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

where Ian is seen running towards the Méridien hotel;

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

tube station exit; and the

Soundtrack

Hewitt performed two songs from the soundtrack, "Love Will Show You Everything" and "Take My Heart Back". She wrote the lyrics of "Take My Heart Back" to music of Chris Canute. Hewitt and Gil Junger co-wrote "Love Will Show You Everything", with music by Paul Englishby.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:If Only 2004 fantasy films 2004 romantic drama films 2000s American films 2000s British films 2000s English-language films 2000s fantasy drama films 2000s romantic fantasy films ABC Family original films American drama television films American fantasy drama films American romantic drama films American romantic fantasy films British fantasy drama films British romantic drama films British romantic fantasy films Films about road accidents and incidents 2000s films about time travel Films directed by Gil Junger Films scored by Adrian Johnston (musician) Films set in London Films shot in Cumbria Films shot in London Films shot in Los Angeles County, California English-language romantic drama films English-language romantic fantasy films English-language fantasy drama films