One Day: Is the 2011 romantic drama and Netflix series inspired by true events?

Just like the film with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, the recent series with Ambika Mode and Leo Woodall has been a huge hit, with Fiction already reaching the top 10 most watched content on the streaming platform. But behind this film adaptation of a mix of romance and tragedy, did the love story between Emma and Dexter really exist?

One Day: The Book Behind the Movie

Literature buffs may already know this, but one day Not a simple film or series written directly by the screenwriters: it’s actually a book written by a British novelist. David NichollsPublished in 2009. In this work, like the film made two years later and the series of 2024, we trace the lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, who are complete opposites but who become friends, and who meet on the same date every year for 20 years.

But between love and friendship, it is sometimes difficult to establish limits… Over several decades, the author takes us to meet two characters damaged by life, but who can always count on each other, despite their different paths of fate. . But is this just the plot of a novel conceived by David Nicholls for friendship and romance, or is this scenario based on real events?

Is the movie One Day based on a true story?

The Romantic drama showing Anne Hathaway And Jim SturgessBut as a result the Netflix event series is carried out by actors Ambika modeSeen in the BBC drama This Is Going to Hurt and Leo Woodall, best known for his role in The White Lotus, is actually based on the real life of David Nicholls. The author actually relies on his own memories to write Un Jor.

If he is not inspired by one of his romantic encounters, he for example imitates his difficulties in starting working life on Emma, ​​a character with whom he also shares the same studies: English and dramatic arts, as he says. ‘ had confessed in an interview guardian In 2021. The idea of ​​​​transferring friendships to annual reunions, a kind of “hidden birthdays”, came to the English writer when he was still in high school and studied the adventures of Tess d’Urberville in Thomas. Hardy’s novel.

The location at the heart of One Day’s plot is also another important similarity between the film and the novelist’s life. Although David Nicholls never actually lived in Edinburgh, growing up near Bristol and currently living in London, he stayed there for a summer in 1988 and fell in love with it, he told British media. Daily records In 2011.

In the film, one place in Edinburgh is particularly highlighted: Arthur’s seat, a hill known to the locals that offers a magnificent view of the capital. But if Dexter and Emma are in a feature film, David Nichols was never there. But after the success of the 2011 cult romantic film, many Scots go there every July 15.love story Unforgettable based on multiple true events that unites the two protagonists.