Just like last week, I can’t really talk about this movie without spoiling the ending. So if you haven’t seen it, please read this post at another time.
#1: The Notebook, staring Ryan Gosling (as Noah), James Garner (as an older version of Noah), Rachel McAdams (as Allie), and Gena Rowlands (as the older version of Allie). Released in 2004.Plot Synopsis from Amazon.com: “The movie focuses on an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who meet one evening at a carnival. But they are separated by Allie’s parents who disapprove of Noah’s unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After waiting for Noah to write her for several years, Allie meets and gets engaged to a handsome young soldier named Lon. Allie, then, with her love for Noah still alive, stops by Noah’s 200-year-old home that he restored for her, “to see if he's okay.” It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love.”
I’ve already written a lengthy post about this movie. Here’s a link if you are interested. Rather than rehash all of the things I said in that post, I want to take a more narrow view in this post. Good fiction, on the printed page or on the big screen, must contain conflict between the protagonist and antagonist. Sometimes two people in a love story fill these opposing roles, and sometimes they fight as a team as the protagonist to overcome an antagonist—things like family expectations, or not having enough money, or overcoming a disaster (natural, or man made), etc. I like both types of love stories, but sometimes I grow weary of watching the give and take between the man and woman when they play opposing roles. I’d rather watch a couple fight a common enemy. That’s what happens in The Notebook.
Yes, Noah and Allie have their problems. They are both passionate people who aren’t afraid to say what they think. They show their anger and their disappointment. They also show their joy. At times, their disagreements lead to fireworks. But, somehow, it’s part of the magic that makes them so good together. And it’s that same passion and deep-seated love for one another that sets the stage for maybe the most emotional movie I’ve ever seen.
In old age, Noah has but one goal each day—to read the notebook that Allie wrote that contains their love story and in the process he hopes to “bring her back” from her dementia for just a few minutes. The doctor thinks Noah is foolish and tells him it isn’t possible. Noah knows better. Noah and Allie’s children think that Noah ought to “come home” because Allie doesn’t know him anyway. Noah knows that his home is wherever he gets to live with Allie—even if it’s a nursing home.
In essence, Noah and Allie teamed up against her dreaded disease and they found a way to take back moments of their lives that the disease insists upon keeping. Here’s an exchange between them after she has come back to Noah:
“I remember now,” Allie said. “It was us. It was us. It was us.”
“Oh my darling. Oh my sweetheart. I love you so much,” Noah said as he gives her a hug.
“Noah, I love you,” Allie said. “What happened to me?”
“Nothing,” Noah said. “You just went a way for a little while.”
“How much time do we have?”
“I’m not sure. Last time it was no more than five minutes.”
Allie nods a look of understanding and says, “Okay.”
“Hey, I brought along an old friend,” Noah says, and then he cues up their song, and they begin to dance right there in Allie’s room in the nursing home. They exchange information about their children and simply enjoy their time together. Then, just like that, her dementia reaches up and grabs her and she’s gone again. At least for a little while.
At the end of the movie, with both of them struggling with their health, we are treated to this scene:
“Do you think that our love can create miracles?” Allie said from her bed.
“Yes I do,” Noah said. “That’s what brings you back to me each time.”
“Do you think our love could take us away together?”
“I think our love can do anything we want it to,” Noah said.
Then he kisses her and climbs up in bed with her.
“Goodnight,” Allie said.
“Goodnight. I’ll be seeing you.”
The next morning, a nurse finds them in bed, still hand in hand, but no longer in this world.
I’ve seen this movie six or seven times and it gets me every time. It’s the power of love on display for all to see. No false pretenses. No lip service. No abandonment. Just a literal “til death do us part.”
