To close out this blog, I sought it only right to watch an American classic, The Notebook. Adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel in 2004, this movie tells the love story of rich schoolgirl and a poor lumbar worker in 1940s South Carolina. To fight cliche’s there is an added dimension to the plot: the love story is told by an old man, who is reading to his wife who has dementia. The end is bittersweet, but the type where everything falls exactly into place. Pure genius in my opinion, so hats off to you, Nicholas. However, despite his amazing writing skills, he does not deserve all the credit. The real showstoppers in this movie are none other than Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.
Let’s start with Ryan (Noah) . Sure, it helps that he’s beautiful, but boy does that guy know how to FLIRT! I couldn’t stop imagining what I would do if someone ever risked their life on a ferris wheel for a date with me or told me they liked me the minute they saw me. He manages to be so incredibly intense in such a calm way, and it is captivating. A sinister part of me also adored when he was heartbroken. Once he found out that Allie was engaged he worked day in and day out to finish the house that he built for her. I think most men would have set it on fire.
Now on to Rachel (Allie), although I really wouldn’t mind devoting an entire post to swooning over Ryan. While Ryan balances intensity and tranquility, Allie balances grace and chaos. Because she comes from a wealthy family, she is a bit of a people pleaser and always does the right thing. But as she gets to know Noah, he challenges her and brings out her true self, which is pretty wild. I’m intrigued by Allie because I think that I am the opposite of her. I’d say I’m pretty wild as is, so I guess I’m looking for someone to calm me down, not rile me up. Or maybe a little bit of both.
The most fascinating part about this movie is something that I found out after the fact: Ryan and Rachel despised each other while filming. It is interesting because even if it was through hate, the passion definitely showed through in their acting. But my favorite part is that after the film wrapped, they started dating. It breaks my heart that they are not together anymore, but I guess not every true love is one that can last a lifetime! In my perfect fantasy world , their love was just so strong that it hurt and was unsustainable. But again, I am relating this to their on screen mid-1900s love, which looks very different to relationships today.
Anyways, I apologize for this blog being particularly gossipy but I think I wanted to give a flavor of how I think when I watch romantic dramas like this. What can I say, I’m a swooner and I’m nosey. Lethal combo. Unfortunately this is my last blog post, so thank you for coming along for the ride.