Get ready for a complicated review of The Half of It (2020). I say that as I sit down to type because there are several directions in which I can take my discussion. Let us eliminate two before going any further. The first point I will not cover has to do with how the film depicts the Sacraments. I appreciate the fact that many scenes take place in a Catholic church, and I was tickled when they sang the classic hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy!” The rest is made-up nonsense because most filmmakers would rather make a service fit their vision for a scene than get something liturgically correct. I have seen worse, but it is still slightly aggravating. The second point to set aside is the fact that the main character, Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), is a lesbian. The Church is clear in Her teachings on sexuality, and I follow them. What I will not do is launch into a diatribe against her feelings. Instead, the film has a lot to say about the nature of love, and I hope that will guide the rest of this treatise.

The question of what it means to love someone drives The Half of It (2020), which follows a teenager who discovers that understanding another person is considerably more difficult than writing the right words. In the small town of Squahamish, Washington, Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is a gifted but isolated high school student who earns money writing essays for her classmates. She lives with her widowed father, Edwin Chu (Collin Chou), and helps operate the local train station, where he works. Their finances are strained, and Ellie has little interest in leaving him behind, even though her English teacher, Mrs. Geselschap (Becky Ann Baker), urges her to apply to Grinnell College. One day, football player Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) approaches Ellie with an unusual assignment. He wants her to write a love letter to Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), the intelligent, artistic daughter of the parish deacon. Ellie initially refuses, partly because she has feelings for Aster herself, but the prospect of an overdue electricity bill persuades her to accept. There is another complication. Aster is already dating Trig Carson (Wolfgang Novogratz), a wealthy, self-important young man whom everyone seems to expect her to marry. Ellie’s first letter, supposedly from Paul, strikes a chord with Aster, and the two begin exchanging increasingly thoughtful messages about literature, painting, and the difficulty of expressing one’s true self. Ellie is delighted to find someone who understands her, although Aster believes she is communicating with Paul. They even collaborate on a painting by taking turns adding to it without meeting. Meanwhile, Paul struggles to live up to the sensitive, articulate personality Ellie has created for him. His first date with Aster is painfully awkward, and Ellie initially declares the experiment over. When Paul defends her against classmates who torment her, however, she agrees to help him again. Their tutoring sessions involve art, conversation, and learning to pay attention to what Aster actually says. As they spend time together, Ellie and Paul develop a genuine friendship. He shares his dream of improving his family’s sausage business with a new recipe, while she begins to trust someone outside her household. A second date with Aster goes poorly until Ellie intervenes through text messages, allowing Paul to appear more insightful than he really is. He later tells Ellie that he kissed Aster, leaving Ellie quietly wounded. Paul also encourages Ellie to participate in the school talent show, where she unexpectedly wins over the audience with a musical performance after he helps foil an attempt to embarrass her. At a party, Ellie drinks too much, and Paul takes care of her. He discovers that she has secretly written to food critics in an effort to promote his inventive sausage recipe, a kindness he never asked of her. Aster, impressed by Ellie’s performance, invites her to spend a day together. They visit a secluded hot spring and talk with an openness that neither has found elsewhere. Aster admits that Trig plans to marry her, although she is uncertain about the life everyone has mapped out for her. Ellie discusses her late mother and her disbelief in God. The conversation draws them closer, but the deception surrounding the letters remains unresolved. When Aster later kisses Paul outside Ellie’s house, Ellie watches from her window and decides to pursue the college opportunity she has resisted. At a football game, Paul scores an unexpected touchdown, encouraged by Ellie’s enthusiastic support. Mistaking their closeness for romantic affection, he attempts to kiss her afterward. Ellie pulls away, and Aster sees the encounter before leaving in distress. Paul finally realizes that Ellie loves Aster. His initial reaction is shaped by his religious beliefs, and he tells Ellie that her feelings are sinful, damaging their friendship. His reaction is also not the best in Catholic terms. Yet his conversations with Edwin, who speaks about loving someone without trying to change them, lead Paul to reconsider how he treats his friend. The conflict comes to a head during a church service when Trig publicly proposes to Aster. Ellie interrupts, unwilling to watch Aster commit herself to a future she does not truly want, and Paul joins her. Their remarks about love and honesty echo the language Ellie used in her letters. Aster recognizes that Ellie was the person behind the correspondence, slaps Paul for deceiving her, and leaves. The deception has finally been exposed, but it has also forced each of them to confront what they really want. Before departing for college, Ellie meets Aster to apologize. Aster reveals that she has turned down Trig and intends to pursue art, and she acknowledges that her feelings toward Ellie may be more complicated than she once understood. Ellie kisses her and suggests they may see each other again in a couple of years. The film’s final farewell, however, belongs to Ellie and Paul. At the train station, Paul promises to keep visiting Edwin and shares encouraging news about his sausage business. As Ellie’s train pulls away, he runs alongside it, recreating a scene from an Indian movie they watched together. Ellie laughs through her tears as she leaves Squahamish, having found not the romance she originally imagined but the friendship, courage, and freedom to begin a new chapter of her life.

And what a chapter Ellie closes throughout The Half of It. What I appreciate most is the friendship that develops between her and Paul. They genuinely care for one another, and they are willing to forgive one another despite his hurtful behavior. What I find most interesting about their interaction, along with the Aster angle, is how much God factors into their conversations. Whether He exists is a question many high school students ask themselves. I did at that age, and I spent many years away from the Church because of it. However these characters act at this point in their lives, one hopes that they eventually find their way back to God because the door is always open to them. Along those same lines, the exchange between Aster and Ellie in the hot spring bears closer examination. It is here that Ellie admits her atheism. For her part, Aster admits that she is not sure what she believes, a fair assessment that I suspect applies to more people than would be willing to admit it. This is because, as Ellie says she has been doing, people look for signs. In Matthew 12:39, Jesus responds to those demanding a sign by saying that an evil and unfaithful generation seeks one, but that no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah. He goes on to speak of Jonah, the Old Testament prophet who spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish. This is an allusion to Jesus’ impending death and Resurrection. Jesus also speaks of how the people of Nineveh, to whom Jonah preached, repented upon hearing the prophet’s message. Yet those demanding proof from Jesus still want signs. While Aster seems to find a sign of connection in the first letter supposedly from Paul, Ellie clearly envies a steadfast belief. It is thus interesting when she follows this remark by stating how lonely it is not to believe in God. That is the crux of the matter and, I suspect, part of why some people fall away from the Faith. Wanting a particular sign, and not receiving it, can lead to feelings of loneliness. They may miss the overwhelming love God wants to give them because they are not looking for Him in the ways they should.

Despite its flaws, The Half of It is a movie you should watch. It is smart on many levels, even if it is a modern retelling of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). At least it is not another reimagining of a Shakespeare work.