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THE
MOVIE MYSTIC
By Stephen Simon
THE NOTEBOOK
Sometimes, a great love... seems just fated. The minute two people lock
eyes, the tumblers instantaneously fall into place and they just know
they want to be together forever. Sadly, for many of those couples the
“forever” only lasts for days or weeks or even a few years,
but it does end. For a few people, however, “forever” means
exactly that... obstacles, challenges, time and distance dissolve –
the love survives and blazes brightly throughout their lives.
It is that fated and inevitable "forever" kind of love that
breathes passion into the core of the beautiful and poignant film version
of The Notebook based on Nicholas Sparks' novel. Set primarily
in the 1940s, the film's love story revolves around two teenagers
(Noah and Ally) who meet and fall in love (maybe this phrase should be
changed to “rise in love”?) during one idyllic summer, only
to have Ally's parents split them apart. They both go their separate
ways until ... I can't tell any more of the story without ruining
some of the surprises in the film and that I don't want to do; however,
there is one aspect of the film that I do indeed want to highlight. By
doing so, I will be revealing something about the plot. Although
it is something that most of you will connect very quickly in the film
anyway, I do want to caution those of you who want NOTHING to be revealed
that you SHOULD STOP READING RIGHT HERE!... and maybe save this
story until after you see the film.
OK? ... for those of you still with us, there is something unique and
powerfully moving about the “bookends” of the film. James Garner
and Gena Rowlands (who is actually the mother of the director of the film)
play the elderly version of the young lovers in the film. Garner is reading
the story of the two young lovers to Ally in a rest home because Ally
suffers from dementia and cannot even remember who he is, or who her children
are. Although their relationship is not revealed immediately, it doesn't
take long to figure it out and the poignancy of the situation provides
a powerful subtext to the love story.
More often than not, screen love stories focus on the “getting there”
but very rarely illuminate the “being there” and even more rarely–
the “having been there.” There seem to be a lot of people who
are enamored with falling (rising) in love but somewhat lost at the “maintaining
it” part, yes? (I hear a lot of you out there murmuring – “a
lot of people”? – it's a damn epidemic!)
What makes this aspect of The Notebook so notable and so laudable
is that the pure sexual chemistry between the young lovers is so fierce
and overpowering for them both that it is wonderful indeed to actually
witness how that facet of their love evolves as they enter their “twilight
years”. This is the rare film that really shows a wider panoply of
love, from youth through some maturity and then to old age, and that odyssey
is one of the many reasons why I recommend the film so highly.
For those of you who are attracted to the film, I think you will have
a wonderful time.
(Stephen
Simon produced such films as Somewhere in Time and What
Dreams May Come, produced and directed INDIGO, and
wrote The Force is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire
Our Lives. He also co-founded The Spiritual Cinema Circle http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/
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