Written and directed by: Ryan Murphy

Based on the Best-Selling Memoirs by Elizabeth Gilbert

Stars: Julia Roberts, Tuva Novotny, Sophie Thompson, Hadi Subiyanto and Billy Crudup

A truly inspirational journey of self-discovery!

Eat, Pray, Love is a tour de force, and must-watch film for a woman who has reached a crossroads in her life. Liz has fallen out of love with her husband and embarks on a journey of self-discovery, in the wake of her marriage breakdown. The film is full of spiritualism and an abundance of culture that is breathtaking. The film is set in New York, Rome, Pataudi and Bali, where Liz meets with many interesting characters who help her in her spiritual and emotional journey.

The cinematography is fantastic, and one can almost imaging that you are there in all the glorious film locations.

Julia Roberts shines as a feminist who steps out of her comfort zone in her quest to discover who she really is. Whilst film critiques are mixed on the calibre of the story, most agree that Roberts was excellent and “played the role beautifully” (Candice Frederick, Real Talk Online Review). Many reviewers have described this as merely another chick flick, but I believe that it has a depth to it that other movies of this genre do not possess.

Eat, Pray, Love is a colourful romantic travelogue. If you are a foodie then the scenes in Rome are going to have you salivating. Roberts certainly does a lot of eating, and makes it clear that this is nothing to feel guilty about. There is a fantastic pizza scene in which characters Liz (Julia Roberts) and Sofi (Tuva Novotny) are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Roberts affirms to the feminist views of her character by claiming that it is OK to stray away from stereotypical ideals of feminine body image. Elisabeth Gilbert, author of this best-selling memoir of the same name, clearly drew on her personal love of pizza for this segment of the movie.

This wonderful segment is followed by a comical and relatable scene in a clothing store, in which the two women struggle to get into some jeans. What woman hasn’t had that struggle at some point in their life? This is just one of the humorous scenes in the movie, which prevents it from being merely a romantic chick flick. The relationship bond between these two characters, and others that Liz forms along the way, goes a long way towards making her character very cosy and likeable indeed.  

The Bali scenes, and the character’s interaction with Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto) a traditional Balinese medicine man, gives spiritual background to Eat, Pray, Love. I have to admit that this was another one of my favourite segments of the movie. As someone who has dabbled in a bit of mindfulness, it was fascinating to witness Roberts’ depiction of meditation, an integral part of her characters self-discovery.

Overall there was much to love in this movie, however I do have to agree with many critiques who say that the ending kind of spoils it. It feels like Liz sells out to romance and does a full circle back to a relationship. In my opinion, a more fitting ending, which would have remained true to the narrative of self-discovery and affirmative feminism, would have seen Liz remaining single and determined to continue her travels. Instead, the ending was the predictable happily ever after, stereotypical romantic ending, that is indicative of too many Rom-coms that I have seen.

What is wrong with depicting women as strong, independent, and able to survive without a man?

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Karen Burns is 49 and lives in Coventry, England. She is a graduate at Warwick after completing a Social Studies degree. Her interests are reading, poetry, writing reviews and she has a blog all about her daughter who has an eating disorder.