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It’s my guess that, at some point in life, everyone has told themselves they’re fine being alone. After breakups and in between relationships, it is the mantra that keeps us going. In those first few months in that new city, it is what keeps us from getting on the next plane “home” at the end of every day. We tell ourselves we can do it all on our own, figure it all out on our own, and be perfectly happy experiencing it all on our own. We are told to embrace that independence, that freedom, and that power that we hold within ourselves. But in the end, even though recognizing value within ourselves is something we all must do, I don’t believe that any of us have ever been meant to live this life alone.

And in P.S. I Love You that is very much the message that its story reveals. As the movie opens, we meet Hilary Swank’s Holly and her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler). Holly is somewhat neurotic and at the same time surrounded by uncertainty, a woman who is all about plans and goals yet seems to be in constant search of the life she wants. In answer to that, Gerry is Holly’s push to see what she has right now and to be open to the excitement of life as it happens not just as she plans it.

But then, in the next scene, we find ourselves at Gerry’s funeral. He has died from a brain tumor and now Holly is alone. Unsatisfied with much of her life even before Gerry’s death, Holly hides from the world and avoids life after his death. But then, on her 30th Birthday, the first of many messages from Gerry arrives, and the movie is set up for the story that follows—a woman struggling to deal with her sudden loss, a world pushing her to embrace her life without the man who was once a part of it all, and the reality that, even though many of the steps we have to take to live this life must be done on our own two feet, we aren’t meant to go it alone.

Gerry may be gone, but through flashbacks and in his letters, he is just as present as every living character in the movie. In one letter, he tells Holly to get a bedside lamp so she won’t hurt herself in the dark. In another, Holly finds herself transported back to the day they met, their first kiss, and the moment they both knew their lives would never be the same again. In many, Gerry’s requests are painful and uncomfortable for Holly, asking her to let go of the past and embrace the present when all she wants is to do just the opposite. He tells her to be open to what she is meant to do in life and to look for signs from him. He makes her get out of the house and into the lives of friends, family, and strangers that continue on around her. And in each letter, even when his requests are difficult, Gerry continues to sign off P.S. I love you, and it is clear that in reminding her of all that she meant to him and pushing her to see all that she still means to the world, love truly is behind all he says.

Although P.S. I Love You is being sold as a romantic comedy, I don’t know that I would characterize it as such. It does have some great lines and funny moments. All of the flashback scenes revealing slices of the life Holly and Gerry shared are the kind that make your heart melt a little bit and wish for a similar scene in your own life. But instead of being a cutesy, boy meets girl, happily-after deal, the movie is actually something quite different that ends up being somewhat of a strange experience.

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