| Young Werther is based on the 1775 German novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, but set in modern day Toronto. The main characters essentially walked off the 18th century pages and arrived in Union Station, meaning it’s not hard to see how these characters were originally derived 250 years ago and yet are living in present day. Werther (Douglas Booth) is a rich, trust-fund adult kid who’s in Toronto to track down an estate trust and his inheritance before he jets off to Europe, but instead falls in love. | | 2024
Directed by: José Lourenço
Screenplay by: José Lourenço
Based on the novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Starring: Douglas Booth, Alison Pill, Patrick J Adams
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Werther was obviously raised by money instead of loving parents so he’s well-versed in the classics, talks like he’s from the 18th century, but is lacking in knowledge of normal social actions. Meanwhile the woman he’s fallen in love with based off of one quick conversation has a similar sentimentality to her. Charlotte (Alison Pill) is the daughter of a rich, successful mostly absentee father and when her mother died young, she had to drop out of school to raise a houseful of younger siblings.
The greatest character introduction comes when Charlotte has to tell Werther that she’s engaged to a man named Albert who had to work instead of attending her birthday party. He’s described as a rich lawyer, but he really is great, they insist. When Patrick J Adams appears as Albert, he is both exactly what you’re expecting and not at all what you’re expecting. Of course he’s a rich lawyer who would be engaged to Alison Pill, but at the same time, he actually is great. A smart, very kind, generous man who, after he mistook Werther an unhoused person, greeted him with open arms and not an ounce of jealousy despite Werther’s rather obvious intentions of stealing Charlotte away.
The aesthetic - which is a grand romanticized version of present day Toronto mixed with an 18th century feel (with characters who could belong in both worlds) – certainly provides a strange tone. I can understand how some might have a hard time getting into it. But not me. I fell for this world instantly, the dialogue is hilarious, line after line that is laugh out loud funny. When a movie starts off this funny, it is easy to follow it anywhere.
The first half of the movie is fast, filled with Werther’s hilarious declarations as he spends a summer wooing Charlotte who is of course still engaged. The second half has a few more pacing problems with Werther getting a job in Albert’s field and still pursuing a now married Charlotte.
Young Werther is yet another love triangle, but what better way to update this tired genre than with 18th century characters? It’s a strange tone, but one that works because director José Lourenço and all the lead actors just go for it and nail the romanticized classic literature intonations. It is witty and entertaining. Werther takes himself very seriously, but Young Werther does not.
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