Is There a Little Heroine in All of Us?
Thanks to everyone who added their favourite romance movies to My Top 10 Favourite Romance Movies post. What awesome movie selections! My poor husband will never get near the TV now. I’ll put together a master list on a future post so we can share everyone’s choices. Keep the Kleenex coming!
The Bridges of Madison County still makes me weak in the knees even though I’ve watched it oh so many times. When Francesca’s hand is gripping her husband’s truck door handle and Robert’s truck is hesitating in front of them at the green light, his red blinker flashing like a beacon, my heart is pounding louder than the rain on her husband’s windshield. Will she take a leap of faith with her lover Robert and abandon the life she’s grown to accept? “This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.”
I can identify with her ambivalence. Some days, life in my “comfortable marriage” is just that…comfortable – laundry on Mondays, grocery shopping on Wednesdays, Church on Sunday. I love my husband and my pleasant but somewhat predictable suburbia lifestyle. But what if one day, the very handsome man flipping through the latest bestseller beside me between the narrow bookshelves at Chapters strikes up a conversation?
“That’s a great book,” he says casually pointing at the paperback in my hand.
“Really?” I answer in a nonchalant voice.
“Yea. I read it at the cottage last summer. Great ending.”
“Where’s your cottage?” I ask while gently slipping the book back on the shelf.
“Huntsville. Beautiful up there.”
“I can imagine,” my hand flutters to my throat.
“Hey, you put the book back?” he says sporting a crooked smile. “You’re missin’ a great story. Let me buy you a coffee and I guarantee you’ll buy it.”
Should I have coffee with him? Would chatting with a handsome stranger about literature and life on a steamy hot summer day be so damaging? My heart races as he brushes past me towards the end of the bookshelf where the small round tables await, a hint of Hugo Boss in the air. What would Francesca do?
I think there’s a little heroine in all of us. Which leading lady in your favourite romance movie best describes you? Why? Share your story.
This post has 8 comments
July 28th, 2010
Great question – I usually do not compare myself with movie stars and I don’t picture myself in the plots of books or film. BUT – this is different because I knew the answer as soon as you asked the question.
I relate to Katharine Hepburn as Ethel Thayer in “On Golden Pond”. I am just as far from being a feminine frilly woman as was Katharine – but I am also like Ethel Thayer especially when she says of her husband “That son of a bitch happens to be my husband.”
You’d have to read the love story of my husband (an ornery, foul mouthed stroke survivor) and me (an independent, stubborn middle aged woman) to fully comprehend the correlation!
Great post!
July 28th, 2010
Hi Sharon, On Golden Pond was an awesome movie! Henry Fonda played her husband didn’t he? I’ve been to your site and I love your cards designed to inspire and respect our husbands. I will go back and read your love story…maybe you’ll publish your own story with you as the heroine. Thanks for the comment!
July 29th, 2010
Which heroine do I relate to in the list of my favourite movies? Very thought provoking even though I know why these are my favourite movies because on some level I can relate to the character’s experience or the story at different times in my life.
I have felt like Charlotte from Now Voyageur as she took her first steps towards her new life and love: “Now, Voyager, Sail thou forth to seek and to find” Walt Whitman.
I have been Cathy in Wuthering Heights and Christine in the Phantom deciding upon love superficially instead of seeking deeper qualities in a man.
Like Allie from the Notebook I never forgot my first love.
Cary Scott from All That Heaven Allows gave me some of the greatest lessons in life as she reached for a book and read a passage from Thoreau’s Walden Pond which started her on a journey of self discovery and non-conformity as she stepped to the music she heard, however measured and far away from family and societal pressures.
And my most recent heroine and my favourite is Francesca from Bridges. I don’t know how a man, Robert James Waller, could write so intunely about the experiences of a woman; about a mother who has raised her children and the feelings of futility when grown children have moved on with their lifes and you have lost herself along the way. To know the feelings when a woman has settled in a mundane marriage only to have her sensuality awakened when a great and passionate love comes along. Francesca journals every detail about the affair as she “wants to be known, known for all that she was during this brief stay”.
I think that is where I am in my life and I can’t wait for the next great romantic movie to hit the big screen!
July 29th, 2010
Hi Lori, I’ve often wondered about Robert James Waller myself and his ability to empathsize with Francesca. I’m going to do some research about Mr. Waller and better understand him as an author and a person. Does the fact that the leading man in the book’s name is “Robert” have any meaning? Is there a story there? I’ll let you know. Life really is a journey isn’t it and I’m glad this post gave you the opportunity to take some time to reflect on who you are or who you’ve been throughout your lifetime.
July 29th, 2010
Well, first of all, we know what Francesca would do. So the question becomes, would it be worth it? My experience is that those things NEVER end well.
I really liked Kate Winslet’s character in Little Children, although I’m not sure you could call her a heroine. Very powerful look at marriage.
July 29th, 2010
I have to agree with you, Jill. The collateral damage after an affair is just not worth it. I saw the movie Little Children. Loneliness in a marriage can drive some spouses over the brink but the grass is not always greener on the other side.
August 6th, 2010
Hey, I’m visiting from SITS tonight. I don’t usually put myself into the character, but since you’re having me think about it…I guess Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. It’s great to be married to your best friend. My story is a bit different though because I had a crush on him forever. Circumstances forced us to be friends.
August 6th, 2010
It is great to be married to your best friend. But I have to wonder sometimes if we give ourselves enough time to really become friends with our future spouses before we get all tangled up in the “relationship” thing? I love Meg Ryan and she was awesome in when Harry Met Sally.