This frilly but fun travelogue, based on Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoirs, is directed with verve by Ryan Murphy (creator of TV's Glee). It stars Julia Roberts as an American woman who abandons a failing marriage and impoverished love affair to spend a year eating in Italy, praying in India and loving in Bali. The cast is spectacular: Roberts looks relaxed, luminous and credible, Javier Bardem is suitably rugged as her new lover, while Richard Jenkins is brilliant as her grumbling prayer pal. Some have derided Gilbert's quest as an indulgent cliché, only accessible to the privileged classes, but much of what she suggests is just good advice for healing body and soul. And the film's beautifully photographed scenes of gorgeous countries, temples and jungles (not to mention delicious-looking Italian dishes) perfectly capture the sense of wellbeing brought about by remembering how to live well.

A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".