I notice I'm not the only one who smiles at cats while walking to work.
The piano interlude in Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me" is the surest way to clear out any residual Monday negativity.
Sometimes my skin quickens as much to sunlight as to a kiss full on the mouth.
Even imaginary friends can be good company.
Sometimes making just that one bright student smile bewilderedly during class is worth all the getting out of bed in the morning.
Apparently, you can't freeze onions.
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7 years ago
10 comments:
Nina Simone... that name sounds so familiar. Is she the one whose song is played at the end of Before Sunset? Julie Delpy is talking about seeing her in concert and imitating her voice & actions. It's so memorable. That movie was so heartbreaking and awesome. Have you seen it?
Anyway, I can imagine what that piano interlude must sound like, based off of that movie scene alone.
I'm loving all your blog posts!!
Yup, Nina Simone is the one referenced at the end of "Before Sunset." I have seen both those films (I could never understand how they made Vienna seem romantic in "Before Sunrise." I hate that city!).
I will say, though, that I have to be VERY CAREFUL about watching them. I hold them both almost entirely responsible for various "questionable decisions" I've made in beautiful, European cities!
Seriously, the second one is a DANGEROUS film - it completely and utterly seduces you with the belief that - because these two characters are so perfect for one another, can have intense and meaningful discussions while walking through beautiful places in long tracking shots - this means that we (I) should root for them to get back together, for the Ethan Hawke character to leave his wife and son to be with Julie Delpy. This is really, really scary film power, to make one root for adultery and divorce. But watching it, your heart does.
Jen, after I read your blog mentioning Nina Simone last week, I re-watched both movies. I think we had talked about Before Sunset after it came out, and I remember feeling so disappointed - you said it well: "the second one is a DANGEROUS film".
I think that's why I find it so heartreaking. Before Sunset is a pure tragedy, in my opinion, because they are clearly soulmates and knew it the first time they met. And they both tried to deny it in light of the hopelessness of never seeing one another again - moving on, if you will. And then he re-opened the possibility by writing the book and going to Paris. That was his downfall. Writing the book. Sending out one last hopeful plea to the gods that she'd be found and they could reconnect. [buzzer sound] Bad move, homes. He should have channeled all that energy and effort into preserving and renewing his marriage relationship. We pro-commitment types get that... a lot of the world doesn't. Case in point: have you seen Juno yet? I won't give any spoilers but the idea of throwing away marriage vows does seem to be taken very lightly and swiftly there. Still, great movie.
All of that aside, Before Sunset pierced my heart. She's so angry, he's so sad. The brilliant ending leaves us to fill in the blanks. If he doesn't go home that day, does he come to his senses the next? If they stay together and he leaves his family, will they be happy? Is their relationship stronger because of the "what could have been"s instead of whatever they do have in common?
It's a melancholy rainy day movie for me, and though I own it, I can't watch it very often.
Ooh, last comment: What about Cast Away? Also totally tragic. The love of his life gets married to someone else after she thinks he is gone forever... then he shows up 4 years later?? The hope of seeing her again was what KEPT HIM ALIVE! Oh, heartwrenching. And she knew she couldn't leave her family. Props to her. But what a difficult position to be put into. I guess that makes the characters' problems in Before Sunset seem pretty small.
One final note, because I'm nerdy.
Once.
Great flick.
Married female character.
Finds soulmate in another while separated from husband.
Nice choice made in the end.
Dang it Dawn! I haven't seen Once yet! Or Juno! Don't spoil anything! Actually, don't spoil the ending of ANY movie that's come out since 2005... despite being the film-watcher I am, it's hard for us to get the delicate, talky dramas over here (too taxing for the LT-ENG translators). Instead, I'm easily able to get to the big blockbusters whose sum total required dialogue translation adds up to, maybe, 10 pages. I eagerly anticipate being able to say, for at least two years upon my return, "No, I HAVen't seen that!"
But, back to the great Before Sunset conversation... I think what I find so dangerous for myself presently (being oh-so-single) is its perpetuation of the "soul mates" myth. The idea that there is just someone out there who is PERFECT for you, and who you'll instantly click with, who's read all the same books, listens to the same music, holds the same ideas... when these are SO much less important than a person’s CHARACTER over a lifetime. Of course, there's the chemistry aspect at work too. Maybe I'm excessively jaded, but I think the soul mate myth has woven itself a little too tightly into my psyche, and now I’m unwilling to settle for anything less than that kind of CONNECTION. Dang it.
Movies like this one are what I like to call "emotional porn." Like the fleshy kind, it awakens unrealistic expectations of a partner, unfulfillable fantasies of being KNOWN like that. (Not unlike "domestic porn" a.k.a Real Simple magazine, and its presentation of household perfection. Oh but I love it!) Thinking of the Song of Song’s urging, “do not awaken love until it so desires,” I sometimes have to turn off all these romantic movies and longing-inducing folk songs. The hope gets too treacherous.
Okay, because I'm nerdy too, I just thought of another thing.
Did you see Becoming Jane (highly fictionalized version of Jane Austen's supposed youthful romance)? I saw it on the plane leaving Turkey this summer, and, holy cow, I practically had a heart attack trying to keep my crying under control at the end of that!
In the final scene, you see the old Jane, meeting again the man who she'd loved as a young girl. You can see in her sunken face that she has loved him all her life, that her love for him has burnt in her both warmly and ravaging pain. It is beautiful and terrifying. She never "got over it." I can't decide if I think this is a precious or stupid part of being human.
If Diana Barry can marry Fred Wright and be happy, then there's hope for all of us. Who needs a soul mate?
http://xkcd.com/310/
Jen, ha ha, the ironic part of your response to my comments is that I HAVEN'T yet seen Becoming Jane! I'm excited to see it though.
Don't worry, I haven't given anything significant away about Juno, or for that matter, Once (which is all about the music; plot is very thin)... of course, I revealed everything about Cast Away but that is decidedly pre-'05.
Will definitely bear the spoiler concern in mind in future conversations. For a mom w/ two kids under two, it's a miracle I've seen as much as I have.
:)
I know what you mean about unrealistic expectations to have for soulmates... and my experience is, I've met *several* people I would call soulmates over the past 15 years. (Or, as Anne Shirley would call 'em, "bosom friends".) One of them is my hubby, lots of them are sisters in Christ, and a few were guys I was convinced (at the time) that I surely had to marry. After all, we connected so well in our loves of music, poetry, whatever it was... Dave and I connect on some of those things, but our primary soulmate connection is our love for Jesus and for ministry, and after realizing that he didn't have to meet every bullet point on my soulmate checklist when we first started dating, I realized I couldn't live without him. And you are absolutely right, the more movies & music we consume on these topics can definitely be dangerous.
I loved all your witty different categories.
Ah, but Carrie, we don't want to BE Fred and Diana. We want to be Anne and Gilbert, Beatrice and Benedict, Mulder and Scully, Lizzie and Darcy... not Hero and Claudio, Fred and Diana, Lydia and Wickham.
Or, as Elizabeth says to Jane, "until I have your goodness, I can never have your happiness."
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