Movie Review: Love Sarah (2020)

Genre: Drama

Director: Eliza Schroeder

Starring: Shelley Conn, Celia Imrie, Shannon Tarbet
Running Time: 97 minutes

Synopsis: In London, pastry chef Sarah is killed in a traffic accident. Her business partner Isabella (Shelley Conn) and daughter Clarissa (Shannon Tarbet) proceed with Sarah's dream of opening a bakery in Notting Hill. They seek support from Sarah's estranged mother Mimi (Celia Imrie), a former trapeze artist, and pastry chef Matthew (Rupert Penry-Jones), Sarah's ex-boyfriend. The new shop opens to slow sales, forcing Isabella, Mimi, Clarissa, and Matthew to improvise a new business plan, while Isabella and Matthew initiate a romance.

What Works Well: The good intentions are sweet enough, and the soft-peddled emotions of honoring the dream of a mother and friend, healing a family rift, and finding love avoid all thorns. Without being tested in the staid surroundings, Shelley Conn, Shannon Tarbet, and Celia Imrie are all adequate.

What Does Not Work As Well: There really is not much going on, as the script studiously avoids most of the necessary conversations then gets distracted, bouncing between business struggles, a couple of tepid romances, and the ghost of unresolved mother-daughter dynamics. But the biggest stumble is the ridiculous notion that immigrants in London somehow fail to open and operate businesses that cater to their communities, and instead wait for English people to learn to bake foreign pastries.

Key Quote:

Clarissa (to Isabella and Mimi): Mom would have wanted us to open this bakery, so that is what we're going to do.