The 1990’s and 2000’s were excellent years for movies of the Romance genre. My absolute favorites were
- Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
- Sabrina (1995)
- You’ve Got Mail (1998)
- Runaway Bride (1999)
- Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
- The Holiday (2006)
- Last Holiday (2006)
Most made me dream of the handsome man that would come in and sweep me off my feet (he has to be physically strong to do that!) but only two left such an impression that they changed my life.
RUNAWAY BRIDE
In Runaway Bride, Julia Roberts’ character Maggie Carpenter fled from three fiancés at the altar. Newspaper columnist Ike Graham (Richard Gere) publishes a scathing article about her after meeting a drunk stranger in a bar who tells him all about it. Maggie complains to the paper who fires Ike. Ike believes there’s still a story there and arrives in the small town of Hale to (hopefully) redeem himself. Ike’s questions challenge Maggie: does she really want to climb the Himalayas on her honeymoon? But the question that made an impression on me and changed the way I approach relationships and my life is “What kind of eggs do you like?” Turns out that in each of her relationships, Maggie liked her eggs exactly the way her fiancé liked his. Metaphorically, she had no idea who she was or what she wanted and became whoever she thought they wanted her to be. She finally discovered HER favorite kind of egg.
I had gone to see the movie alone following a breakup and found myself crying at the sight of Maggie with several plates of eggs of different kinds in front of her on the counter taking a bite of each one. I went home with an epiphany – I would no longer be what I thought someone else wanted me to be! It was very freeing. I no longer cry at those scenes in the movie, but I still watch it annually as a reminder. And Richard Gere is still pretty easy on the eyes! Get the sound track – it’s amazing!
UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN
Few movies changed my life like Under the Tuscan Sun. For me and so many women like me (you know who you are!) watching Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) take control of her life after a devastating event (divorce) made me sit up and take notice. Of course, it takes living in a furnished apartment building that houses mostly divorcees with a landlord who makes jokes about the tenants; a (divorced) doctor who can hand out the pills and a writer (Frances) who can help with the suicide notes, to make her realize it’s time for a change. Frances agrees to accept an upgraded ticket for an Italian vacation from her friends who are expecting a child and can’t travel. After a beautifully eccentric woman eyes her looking at a For Sale Notice for a villa, she asks Frances if she’s going to buy it. Frances laughs nervously and says no, but when the tour bus she’s in is stopped by a herd of sheep in the road, she glances over and sees they’re stopped in front of the villa! As the bus starts to move again, she yells out “Stop the bus!” But I notice it’s less of a statement and more of a question “Stop the bus?!” Even her seatmate runs to the back of the bus and looks out the back window, mouthing “what are you doing?”
She soon owns the villa and sets out to make a new life. What strikes me is the idea of being so desperate for a change that starting over thousands of miles away on another continent, where you know no one is preferable to going home. She tells Senor’ Martini she can’t go back. But I don’t see that desperation anymore. I see it as a fresh start – the beginning of a new adventure.
Watching it over and over since it came out in 2003 set into motion a desire; no, an obsession to someday get to Italy myself, if only for a short vacation. The scenery, the language, the architecture, the people; it all screamed at me to go.
It wasn’t until my own tragedy in 2015, when we lost our mother to tragic circumstances during a “simple” pacemaker placement and later surgeries to repair that damage. She was on life support for 30 days before it was clear the damage was irreversible; we honored her living will and let her go.
At Christmas that year, my daughter, Amanda, asked if I was ready to take that trip to Italy. She was going with me! We saved and planned. Thank goodness she’s so organized and found amazing flights, trains and we booked lodging through Airbnb. She’s fearless in her own right; well except for the bird thing in Venice… Amanda is scared to death of birds and Venice has them everywhere. They fly down the sidewalks in Venice along the canals often brushing the top of your head with their feet…or wings – we weren’t sure which. Amanda made friends quickly; ok “friends” is pushing it – let’s say she made peace with them, as you can see in the picture.
BECOMING THE STAR IN MY OWN MOVIE
The 2017 trip to Italy was so exciting that I’m planning another trip for this September. But this time I’m going solo! I LOVED traveling with Amanda and would take a trip with her anytime, but her family has other trips planned. I’ll be spending 2 nights in Venice, 1 night in Bressanone and 7 in Florence. I have a few excursions planned but want to have time to just sit and watch the world go by.
Leave a comment and tell me what movie(s) changed your life!
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