Happy New Year everyone! How many of you who are familiar with this movie remember that it revolves around New Year's Eve? It seems fitting for me to use this movie as a way of closing out 2011, the first year of this movie blog. I appreciate the reads that I have gotten in the past 9 months. My first review was "The King's Speech", after it won Best Picture. I am enjoying blogging a lot, and have loved the feedback I have gotten from you all. I guess I will keep going until someone out there begs me to stop.
What's another way to know that a film is great? I think it says something about the quality of a film if one has very little in common with the main characters, and still finds so much with which to identify. We are all humans after all, and even when we have different ethics, value and culture, there is still a lot of room for familiarity.
This works well with "When Harry Met Sally", for its characters lead very different lives from the lives that my wife and I live. My wife and I were each others' first love, while Harry and Sally have had many other loves in their lives. In spite of that, there is so much with which Steph and I can identify in this movie. What man does not watch as Harry deconstructs men to Sally and nod in some sort of familiarity? What person doesn't look at this couple and see so much humanity? True, there is an idyllic quality that permeates so much of Nora Ephron's (screenwriter=she also wrote "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail") work. New York always looks down right pastoral in her work. But in spite of the fanciful nature of the New York we are given, the film is grounded in a lot of reality.
New Year's Eve plays an important role in this movie for several reasons. The ending of the movie is set on New Year's Eve. The fact that both Harry and Sally find it necessary to have someone to be with on New Year's Eve speaks to the yearning that most people have for companionship. Steph and I have returned to this film several times over the years, both because it makes us laugh, and it warms our hearts. This is truly a romantic comedy for adults. It speaks frankly about the differences between male and female sexuality. Yet again, the fact that the characters in this movie have different baggage from me does not detract from its impact. The most famous scene of the movie (to those of you who have not seen it, I will not give it away---but you'll know which scene it is when it happens) is completely preposterous, but it makes a point in an uproarious way. Men and women approach sex and sexuality differently. Whether the differences come from evolution, creation, or simply social conditioning is beside the point. The point remains that there are differences, and they are a source of frustration, humor and exhilaration.
Maybe Steph and I will watch this movie tonight. The movie brilliantly weaves in interviews of older couples (some who have been married for many years) reflecting on their respective courtships. These interviews act as parentheses to the story of Harry and Sally. I think that these couples represent the kind of relationship for which Harry and Sally (and maybe all of us) yearn. Both Harry and Sally are not at peace. They attempt to find companionship in other ways and places, but in the end they only seem to find the companionship that they want in each other. New Year's Eve provides a fitting back drop to that, as so many reflect on the past and look to the future. I will gladly spend the waning hours of 2011 with my wife of almost 12 years, and I will look forward with hope to what the 13th year will bring.
