A Conversation with Elizabeth
2017
Romance Movies

From:           Elizabeth 
To:             Larry
Sent:           Sunday, June 4, 2017 8:47 AM
Subject:        Re: Just Curious What Your Thoughts Are
 
Larry,
 
A week ago I started watching a brief series "The Night Of," which is available in Netflix on DVD.  It is only 3 disks.  I really enjoyed it because it is both murder mystery and a bit of social/political commentary at the same time, as a young Muslim boy is a suspect. I watched and returned disc 1.  Disc 2 and 3 were supposed to arrive on Friday, but only disc 3 arrived! I hoped disc 2 would arrive on Saturday, because I knew we were facing a constant weekend of rain, even though it has already rained for about 10 straight days!  It didn't arrive though, and I can't report it missing until Monday. 
 
So, because of the above, I didn't have a movie for the weekend!  I usually scan through the TCM schedule anyway out of curiosity to see what movies they will be showing, but this time I really looked for something to watch!  I had neither seen nor heard about "Brief Encounter," but David Lean is a well known director, for example Dr. Zhivago (now that's a romance!). Also the musical score was supposed to be Rachmaninoff (which it was!).  "Brief Encounter" did remind me of "Bridges of Madison County" a fair amount, that is another chance meeting of lovers or "soul mates" in modern terminology, but ultimatedly doomed by circumstances, mainly marriages cemented in place.
 
To me the movies where the couple does get together can be more depressing, if the thought is "it will never happen to me."  On the other hand, in movies where they don't, it just confirms that this may be the more typical experience, and so one isn't alone.  Of course, that could leave one sad, about oneself and others. 
 
For whatever reasons, I didn't grow up, or even later go through my life,  with the dream, or hope, that I would find someone to literally marry, in the traditional sense.  I know so many people who have gotten divorces, for one reason or another, and their goal seems to immediately become getting RE-married.  Sometimes that is because of children, i.e. for the mother not wanting her children to grow up not having a father. 
 
That was the case with a student of mine recently.  She stays in touch with me by email.  Her husband left her very abruptly and  unexpectedly with two kids, one autistic, when he linked up with someone at his workplace.  After just a few months of being alone, she said she wanted her kids to have a father, so she went to a crazy internet match making site for farmers, found a man, and is now married.  I asked her why she went there, and she said she thought she might have a better chance of finding someone solid!  The man she married went there hoping he would find a woman there who had her feet on the ground!  Ha. Anyway, it is totally amazing, the quick turn around she made, and she is incredibly happy. She sent me pictures last night of a home they are now buying, and it is quite lovely, spacious and with a nearby lake and creek.
 
Oh well, time to turn on the Sunday morning news shows, which I like to watch, although the terrorist incident in London last night will probably be the main topic.
 
Elizabeth

I like a good romance movie. The Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies are some of my favorites, Sleepless in Seatle and, of course, You’ve Got Mail because of the parallels to this email thread and me working at AOL (they used AOL mail in the movie). Under the Tuscan Sun is another favorite and ever since I have wanted to buy a villa in Italy to restore and was in part why I went to a yoga retreat in Italy. Then there is Eat, Pray, Love, a wonderful book but the movie was not so great and reminds me of my yoga vacation in Bali. I’m not sure why I torture myself watching romance movies as they often make me sad afterwards with the thought that I’ll never find love again.

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