Wow. I really need to start looking into what movies I watch before I press play.
While scrolling through our "video on demand"-list, I've noticed this Natalie Portman film that I've never heard about, thinking I'll watch it one of those grey days when getting up from the couch seems impossible. The title is "The Other Woman", and the short summary says: "On Manhattan, twenty-two year old Emilia Greenleaf - a lawyer and Harvard graduate - is in love with her boss Jack Woolf, and they're having an affair. Jack's marriage is a sham but his son, William, is his proud and joy. Emilia soon discovers she's pregnant, and Jack gets divorced... (press 'info' for more information.)"
I didn't press "info" for more information. I settled for this oh-so-captivating and well written description (har har har) and went for it, since today without question is one of those grey days I was saving this movie for. I figured, hey - Natalie Portman is one of my favorite actresses, I'll get to watch her prance around Manhattan being the other woman, she's going to get pregnant, what's not to like?
Sure, now that I've watched it, I did press "info" for more information and okay, it's all right there. Loud all clear. Not that it matters, it's too late now; I've already cried my eyes out for two hours straight, my head is pounding the way it does when you're all out of tears, and getting up from the couch seems even more impossible than it did before I started to watch this saddest of sad movies.
THEY SHOULD PUT A WARNING LABEL ON MOVIES AS SAD AS THIS ONE! You shouldn't have to press for more info! Honestly, I think it's disrespectful to people like me to just fill a movie with unbearable sadness and not warn us properly!
Like when I was on the plane to Los Angeles in October last year, only days after we buried my best friend. Exhausted and too terrified of flying to be able to get any sleep, I chose to watch a film that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for: Miley Cyrus playing a rebellious teenage girl who spends the summer at her father's beach house, meets her first love bla bla bla. No "press for more info". Let me tell you, not a word about the fact that the whole darn movie is going to be about how this girl has to watch her father die from cancer. Of course they didn't mention that part, of course not! It's a twist, a surprise, yay! Everyone loves surprises, right? I mean, I know I do! I just love me a cancer surprise!
Oh, I could have stopped watching? That's true. Except that no, I couldn't. Because a part of me was hoping, desperately, that her dad would fight the disease and that the ending scene would not take place at his funeral. Or maybe I'm simply an emotional masochist. That's actually very likely.
Separating facts from fiction is something I've never been particularly good at. Actually, I suck at it. Well, not intellectually - of course I know what's fiction and what's reality - but emotionally. One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching "My Girl" - Macaulay Culkin dies of a bee sting, it's devastating, I'll tell you - and then crying for hours and hours. I remember it so clearly because my mom finally sat down next to me on the bed and told me, very gently, that it was time to stop crying. That this reaction would be natural if, say, she would die - but not when the deceased is a character in a movie. And she didn't have to say it, I just felt it, I knew: she was worried about me, about how I would handle going through life with all of its hardships, when I was this upset about a stupid film. And honestly, I was, too. I still am. When my heart breaks from reading a book or a magazine article, watching a film or a tv-series, how am I supposed to survive the real tragedies in my life? I simply don't know.
Anyway. I am now warning you: "The Other Woman" with Natalie Portman is really, really good but really, really sad! Be prepared. Just saying.
I totally know what you mean. For me it is not so much the sad movies but more the realistic terrifying ones: I watched "The Road" (book by Cormac McCarthy, film with the divine Viggo Mortensen) over six months ago and still get nightmares due to the sheer cruelty depicted in the movie. Let's just all watch Harry Potter I-VIII. And Dirty Dancing. And Pretty Woman. And Pride & Prejudice. Or something.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading your post! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm the same I cry at books/films all the time but luckily I've not had to deal with anything like that in real life yet. Slightly intrigued by The other Woman now.. but I'll save it for when I need a good cry haha
x
I totally know what you mean! I watched the last song on a plane too and I bawled the WHOLE time... let the weird looks commence hehe.
ReplyDeletei've already watched it. but i clicked the more info button so i was prepared..i LOVE sad and honest movies with serious topics. so i loved this one. i also love the miley cyrus film and i saw the two parts of my girl..this movies are parts of my childhood :) my mother always said that i look a little bit like her when i was little andwearing a horse tail.
ReplyDeletelove you mentioned that movies :)
Usch vad jag känner igen mig, jag är också en sån som -känner- så mycket och gråter till film, det kan verkligen hugga till i hjärtat när det blir sorgligt. När jag såg Gilbert Grape som barn fick pappa trösta mig i en timme. Minns fortfarande hur han berättade att allt bara var på låtsas, att mamman egentligen bara satt på en restaurang och åt hamburgare medan de brände ner huset.
ReplyDeleteoh i absolutely think you will LOVE this movie: Lost and Delirious.
ReplyDeleteit's with the very young mischa barton. and you look so much alike :) it's about a lesbian love. and yes it is a really sad movie..in the end.
I love Natalie Portman as well, so I will definitely watch the movie, but thanks for the heads up. :) Xoxo
ReplyDeleteI actually love sad movies, they're so full of feelings, feelings that goes right into me.
ReplyDeleteI always cry in "The secret life of bees," beautiful movie!
Actually, the only reason why I watched this movie was Natalie Portman. I adore her! She's such a great actress and the most inspiring women to me!
ReplyDeleteI liked the movie, but I think it was not HER role. I did not believe her. Dunno why, but I think she can do her job much better ;) (as she did in "Closer")
I cried my eyes out to My Girl when I was a kid -I think it's perfectly natural because wow is that film sad.
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing again a few months ago to Bridge to Terabithia.
That was far worse. Like this one no one warned me! What was I expecting? Happy kids fantasy film. I love kids fantasy. Small child saves magical world from disastor... yeah I know it! I warn you. Bridge to Terabithia is not the plot you think it is. Weeping ensued.
Annika, annika, annika.
ReplyDeleteYou know, almost every single time I read a post by you, you make me smile in a sort of a happy & sad way. You are so honest. I mean, I feel like you write what goes through your mind and never pretend stuff or say thing in a convoluted way.
I mean no disrespect when I say that it makes you a vivid character in most of your readers' mind. When you say what you say in this post for instance, I can actually picture you watching the movie and cry in front of it, not wanting to put an end to it, but aching the whole ride. And in your childhood, watching My Girl and being comforted by an anxious mother.
I felt the same watching both movies. And often, listening to music. Sometimes I'm afraid that being an artist make me vulnerable to melancholy, as if I was flirting with the abyss all of the time. Even though I am often happy.
The thing that helps me through sadness, when I feel it, be it when I watch something sad, or when I think about the loss I have endured, is knowing in my heart, that I am not alone, that we are many to feel like that, from times to times. And I think, somehow, there is a beauty in that.
On the bright side, sadness, lucidity and empathy helps us creative people to make things that help others through their lives. I write songs. It helps :)
Thanks for the heads up!I've been wanting to see this movie for a while but hadn't really heard anything about... I watched the commercial and it seemed like a really good movie, but still you never know.
ReplyDeletehttp://sweetandsimple77.blogspot.com/
Jag gjorde precis samma misstag i helgen när det inte fanns något på tv. Den behandlar för mig ett mkt känsligt ämne och jag grät nästan hela natten efter det. Den var bra, men fy vad jobbigt att titta. Mina ögon var som klistrade, kunde inte slita blicken!
ReplyDeleteawwww <3
ReplyDeletexo zebra and meerkat
I get emotional even after watching a touching commercial of coffee, so..yes, I really understand you. And there a little masochist in me, too. Sometimes I watch a film even though I knew it will make me cry before pressing 'play'.
ReplyDeleteåh, just denna filmen såg jag också häromdagen. jag tänkte bara, portman! då måste jag se den. hon gör en ju aldrig besviken. inte heller denna gång. o pojken vill man ju adoptera på studs.
ReplyDeleteI love Natalie Portman as well, I seriously think she's one of the best actresses, and she's done such a wide range of roles. I really enjoyed reading this post, really want to watch the movie now I love being moved by books and movies enough that they make a lasting impression on me. If you like reading I recommend When Dogs Cry by Markus Zusak - that book is one of my favourites ever and i cried the whole way through, though i'm not sure why :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I had a pretty intense reaction to My Girl as a kid too. So sad!
ReplyDeletehttp://fieryfinish.blogspot.com/
Du skriver så ruskigt bra! Så himla sorgligt och vackert inlägg!
ReplyDeleteOch hur kan du vara så sketans bra på engelska? :)
Stor kram!
Annika - I feel the absolute same way. I can't watch absolutely devastating movies anymore that aren't advertised that way. I recently saw "One Day" and I thought it would just be a happy-go-lucky romantic drama that ends happily and such, but it was devastating, I cried at the theater. I hated that. I probably will never watch The Other Woman now! Thanks for saving me from the heartbreak. Also, my mom worries about me too because little things have always upset me to the point of tears...
ReplyDelete