Is there something more romantic than an American going to the United Kingdom for an experience that changes life? This is the essential of My year of OxfordA new romantic film on Netflix with Sofia Carson and based on the novel by Julia Whelan. Carson plays Anna, who has a good thing for her. After graduating from Cornell University and aligned a job as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, she finagged a year of leave before starting the concert to follow her passion: studying poetry at the University of Oxford. It is there that she meets Jamie (Corey Mylchreest), who teaches her poetry class. Although their friendship begins on the wrong foot (Jamie rides on a puddle, letting her soak), they soon embark on a romance that will change their two lives forever.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]This is how My year of Oxford ends.
With two weeks to do during her year in Oxford, Anna must decide between the return to her life in America, where a stable and well -paid career awaits him, or risking everything to stay with Jamie in Oxford. Anna decides to stay, calling on her mother to say that she will know Goldman Sachs that she plans to refuse work. Her mother is shocked, but understanding, telling Anna that she and her father are ready to support her, no matter how she chooses to live her life.
Find out more: Here is what is new on Netflix in July 2025
Jamie, however, is very upset by her decision. It is not because he does not want to be with her, but that he knows that their relationship cannot last forever. This is because Jamie secretly lived with an aggressive form of incurable cancer, the same that has already claimed the life of his brother. While initially kept that a secret of Anna, she discovered when she storm her house, feared that he was cheating on her, only to learn that her big secret was that he was undergoing chemotherapy. Jamie feared that he would hold her back and did not want to lower Anna with the reality of taking care of a dying person. But Anna loves Jamie and wants to be with him until the end, despite her protests that she returns to America and lets her life begin.
Anna is not someone who can be easily dissuaded. She surprises Jamie in the secret library of Oxford where their relationship has really started to flourish, telling her that she was going anywhere. “Anna, I want more than anything, but it’s madness. I fear that you will regret it, ”says Jamie. Anna decided: “I think you should never regret the things you do,” she replies. And that’s it. Anna remains in Oxford with Jamie.
That night, they sleep together. But when Anna wakes up in the morning, she finds Jamie who does not respond to bed. In the hospital, Anna is waiting with Jamie’s parents. The doctor reveals a bad prognosis – Jamie has a critical case of pneumonia, because chemotherapy has weakened his immune system. The doctor suggests other treatments, but Jamie’s father resists, respecting Jamie’s wishes not to suffer to try to keep him alive. This represents a sea change for his father; Previously, their relationship had had trouble because Jamie’s father was so energetic to do everything possible to keep Jamie Eddie’s brother alive, despite all the efforts of failure. It is a touching and tearing moment, because Jamie’s father agrees to let his other son go.
Later, Anna and Jamie are lying together in bed. “Now that you have stayed, you have time to do your big tour,” said Jamie. “We should go together,” says Anna. There is a shade of sorrow in her voice – she knows that the great European adventure they have always wanted to take is now impossible. Anna then tells where they could go; At a chapel hidden in the red district of Amsterdam, in the Seine in Paris, where they drank all night, in Venice, where they spent the day and night on a gondola; and at the Poseidon temple in Greece, where they were swimming in the Aegean Sea. “We would deliberately live, aspiring the whole marrow of life,” she says.
During Anna’s narration, we see a living assembly of their long holidays, taking advantage of every moment of their time together through Europe. They kiss with passion on the beach by the water. But while the camera swirls around them, Jamie disappears, leaving Anna alone at the beach. It is a subtle but powerful moment – Jamie has passed, the pattern of water recalling how they met for the first time. My year of Oxford Choose not to draw Jamie’s suffering, granting him the peaceful exit he suited. A quick blow of them lying together suggests that Jamie may be dead in bed with Anna in her arms, but it is open to interpretation. Singaman, the film is much less invested in Jamie’s death, rather focusing on the way Jamie lived and the way he had an impact forever on Anna’s life.
Find out more: The 31 best love triangle movies
My year of Oxford Leaning into another montage, showing Anna alone in the great adventure they wanted to take together. She does everything she and Jamie planned to do, discovering a world that she wanted to explore with him so much. It is a striking moment which shows how Jamie changed Anna, allowing her to let go and worry less about the future and live more in the moment. There are overviews of Anna’s growth throughout the film, including when she stops living her year of Oxford by the control list and embraces spontaneity, but her journey means that Anna has really changed.
Find out more: Why I replace abandoners with poetry
In the final scene, we are back in class where Anna spent most of her year obtaining her master’s degree. It’s a new year of students, and the door opens to reveal Anna, a teacher now the same course she took under the supervision of Jamie. Anna officially abandoned her job at Goldman Sachs and decided to rely on her passion for poetry, the reason why she came to Oxford first. “Poetry can be taught, but it should really be experienced,” she said to her students, encouraging them to “let in and allow her to change your life”.
Before the start of the course, Anna told her students that she wants to offer them a “bribes” to help them passionate about poetry. She reveals a cake from Victoria Sponge, in the same way that Jamie started her class. In this unique way, Anna can transport Jamie’s inheritance with her while forging a path entirely hers.
