Love-struck

Generational gap happens when grown-ups  no longer recall and  feel the impulse nor  possess  the optimism or  ideals  that they might or could have had  in another lifetime. Many grown-ups today must have been self-centred, dreamy and flighty like the generation Y and Z when they were young and hopeful.

Life as an adult is very much like a whirlpool.  Like  it or not, we are  bent on achieving the standard of living that we want and as reality sets in, we become grounded and even calculating and knowingly opportunistic. No matter what era we are in and what generation we belong to, issues about  love and affairs of the heart and all that involving the psyche  of a human being remain the same. If you ever miss the feeling when your  heart used to flutter and daydream about love and  a whole lot of other things, there are always films and books that allow us to dream and reminisce that whimsical feeling.

Last Thursday evening, I  caught the film The Souvenir by British director, Joanna Hogg at a local independent bookshop.  The setting of the story is in London during the 80s. The protagonist, Julie  is a 25 year old aspiring film maker and  she meets Anthony, a young  man who purportedly work  as a diplomat in the foreign office.  He is knowledgeable about arts and classical music but he is unreliable, arrogant and elusive. Coming from a privileged and pampered background, Julie is naïve and ambitious. Julie is attracted to Anthony who appears worldly. She only begins to see the dark side of Anthony when she meets his cynical friend, Patrick.  Her film studies are affected as her relationship with Anthony is distraught and yet she seems to be so drawn to  him even as he imposes his tastes on her. As a viewer, you really want her to leave him at some point but you know that it is a matter of the heart. Perhaps whatever the outcome, this love-struck experience can probably serve to give her the edge necessary for her artistic aspiration later in life. 

Generational gap happens when grown-ups  no longer recall and  feel the impulse nor  possess  the optimism or  ideals   that they might have had  in another lifetime. Once upon a time, many grown-ups today must have been self-centred, dreamy and flighty like the generation Y and Z. Life as an adult is very much like a whirlpool.  Like  it or not, we are  bent on achieving the standard of living that we want and as reality sets in, we become grounded and even calculating and knowingly opportunistic. No matter what era we are in and what generation we belong to, issues about  love and affairs of the heart and all that involving the psyche  of a human being remain the same. If you ever miss the feeling when your  heart used to flutter and daydream about love and  a whole lot of other things, there are always films and books that allow us to dream and reminisce that whimsical feeling.

Recently  I have caught the film The Souvenir at a local independent bookshop.  The setting of the story is in London during the 80s. The protagonist, Julie  is a 25 year old aspiring film maker and  she meets Anthony, a young  man who purportedly work  as a diplomat in the foreign office.  He is knowledgeable about arts and classical music but he is unreliable, arrogant and elusive. Coming from a privileged and pampered background, Julie is naïve and ambitious. Julie is attracted to Anthony who appears worldly. She only begins to see the dark side of Anthony when she meets his cynical friend, Patrick.  Her film studies are affected as her relationship with Anthony is distraught and  yet  she seems to be so drawn to  him. As a viewer, you really want her to leave him at some point but you know that it is a matter of the heart. Whatever the outcome, her life experience can definitely serve to give her the edge necessary for her artistic expression and aspiration. click

The title of the film derives from the same title of a painting of a woman carving her lover’s initials on a tree and  the artwork is  by  Jean-Honoré Fragonard  who was  a French painter in the 18^th century. In the movie, Anthony and Julie visits the artwork. The word ‘ souvenir’ means ‘remember’ in French. The title of the film is apt indeed.  From millennials to boomers, the world does not alter for the lovestruck. 

I believe that it is better to have fallen in love and cared for someone even if it turns  out to be an infatuation or simply loving somebody  due to the need to love or whatever reasons that may be  in all sensibility the wrong ones. In life, one should know that everything is transient, more so when it comes to affairs of the heart. I read  that the film is semi-autographical.