Do you ever feel like you get so involved in a story (either through a book or a movie) that you find it hard to surface into real life again? Normally I can easily close a book and go on with whatever I need to do, or watch a movie, but when it's over it's over. Occasionally, however, I find I feel sort of unsettled by something I've watched (I think I have more of a problem with movies than books--only because they are so much more visual). Everything will seem sort of bland when I have to face real life again.
This weekend I watched Broken English with Parker Posey. I'm not even sure how I came across it, and I was actually expecting a different movie from Netflix, but apparently my queue was in a different order than I thought. I had absolutely no expectations. I watched it three times over the weekend. Parker Posey plays Nora Wilder, a 35-ish single woman living in NYC. She works in a fancy hotel in "guest relations" and has rotten luck with men when everyone around her is married or in a relationship. I know, I know--it sounds pretty cliched, doesn't it? So far my life does not parallel Nora's in the least. She drinks too much and smokes too much. And really she seemed a little too desperate. I guess what I found so compelling was her loneliness.
After a series of disastrous dating experiences, she meets an eccentric Frenchman. At first she is anything but impressed by him and tries hard to shrug him off. When he first meets her he tells her she's lovely, and she gives him this look. He asks her if she doesn't believe him, and she tells him she does, but that his expectations are probably not that high. Her insecurities are almost palpable. At one point she even has an anxiety attack so severe that she has to go home and take a pill to calm down. I'm probably not putting this film in the best light--I'm making Nora sound like a basket case, and I suppose in some ways she was. But she was so human; there were things I could easily relate to in this film.
When she finally does start falling for Julien, he of course must return home to France. He asks her to come with him, but being a reasonably practical person, she turns him down. I think my favorite scene in the movie shows Nora sitting at her desk at work looking completely bored. Her boss comes in to ask about the company picnic, which she is supposed to have been organizing. She hasn't done a thing, however. Her boss looks at her and asks what is going on--she's always so dependable. And she says I just can't do it anymore. And walks out. Now, I like my job, don't get me wrong. But a job is a job is a job. Have you ever gotten to the point where you feel like Nora? I just can't do it anymore...and walk out. The movie must have fed on some of my deep seated fantasies or something.
Life can be so boring and predictable. The same routine day after day after day. There are moments occasionally when I do feel like Nora--when she had her anxiety attack, or when she just was so fed up she walked away from it all. I've already given away a chunk of the movie, so I'm not going to say how it ends. I really enjoyed this one and I had to make myself drop it in the mailbox this morning, or I would be watching it all week long. So now you know one of my little secret fantasies...wishing I could just chuck it all and run away (to Paris would be nice--surely you must have had this same fantasy at least once before?). Alas, I am too dependable to do anything like, that, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the character in a movie doing it!
By the way, this was a low budget film--not your usual Hollywood blockbuster--maybe also a reason I liked it so much. It was just released this year, and I am not sure if it even played in theaters? I'm not very up on movies really. And the Frenchman was played by the very handsome Melvil Poupaud, who was also in Le Divorce--he played the weaselly husband. At first I was disappointed he was cast, as I disliked his character so much in Le Divorce. Happily, he has redeemed himself. Now I suppose it's time to surface again and be part of the real world.