Words and Pictures

Words and Pictures with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche

You've probably never even heard of the movie, Words and Pictures, because it's received no press to speak of and the few reviews it has receive have been mediocre at best.

Dave and I loved it.

On the surface it's about a man teaching honors English and a woman teaching honors art in an upscale boarding school who have a contest to see which is more important, words or pictures.

Binoche art work in the movie and in real life.

But that's not what it's really about.  It's a redemptive love story about two middle aged, complicated, struggling, broken adults falling in love.  He's an alcoholic and she's disabled - and not from some exciting accident skiing in the Alps.  She has rheumatoid arthritis.

The great French actor, Juliette Binoche, age 50, plays the artist.  She is, in fact, in real life an artist and all of the art work in the film is hers.

The great English actor, Clive Owen, age 49, plays the writer.

The have some of their best dialogue leading up to and during a loving making scene.  This is truly a love story for adults.  And, one of my favorite themes in literature, redemption.

We want to see it again.

Binoche and art. 

But it's not for everybody.  When we were standing in line for tickets there were four cool looking young men in their twenties with ripped muscles and interesting tattoos in front of us.  I asked them what they were going to see.  One of them said 22 Jump Street.  I told them we were seeing Words and Pictures. 

"What's that?"

"It's a love story about two middle aged messed up people"

He said:  "You don't want to see that.  See 22 Jump Street."

I told him we'd consider it but we hadn't seen 21 Jump Street so maybe we wouldn't be able to follow the plot.

They just looked at me.


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The Doggie Door

As I've complained various times, on Saturday mornings, Park Avenue in Winter Park, Florida is overrun with designer dogs.  Along with the occasional designer bunny rabbit, parrot, etc.

Every Saturday we pass by a popular pet store called "The Doggie Door."  How upscale is it?  The Web Site says:

The Doggie Door is Not Your Everyday Designer Pet Boutique. 

We stopped in this morning.

Here are some of the designer doggie clothes.  They actually cover an entire wall.  Dave teasingly asked the proprietor if he had any doggie tuxedos.

The reply?  "What size?  They're in the back."


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Me Before You

A coupe of months ago I read this best selling novel by British writer Jojo Moyes.

It's not a book I would normally have read because it's a love story about a 35 year old good looking, fantastically successful guy named Will who flips his motorcycle and becomes a quadriplegic who wants to end his life - and his subsequent 28 year old poor, unsure of herself caregiver named Lou.  They, of course, fall in love.

I don't care for tearjerker novels.  Rather than openly weeping like a normal person, I feel sort of bored and manipulated.

But everybody else I know who's read it loved it.  The ending was sad but realistic and controversial.

Yesterday we discussed  Me Before You in my book club.  As usual the discussion was rich and I came away with a much better feeling about the book.

For me, the big issue is Will's right to end his life.  All sides of this issue were represented, both in the book and in our ladies book club.  Some folks thought Will was being selfish to want to leave those who loved him.  Some folks felt his mom and others were being selfish for wanting him to stay.  But the discussion yesterday was civil and courteous , the way we'd like to all controversial issues discussed.

We all know of quadriplegics who've made a go of it.  Stephen Hawking and Christopher Reeves come to mind.  But, do we have the right to decide for others when or if their lives are worth living?

And, to me, the larger issue is simply aging and who decides when life ceases to be meaningful for us soon to be oldies.  It's a deeply personal question as well as a world wide moral issue.

Stay tuned:  Me Before You is currently being made into a major motion picture.


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Is It Really a Cliche?

Dr. Bob had a fantastic sermon this morning on I Corinthians 13, one of the most familiar parts of the Bible.  Folks use it in strange ways, sometimes.

I kind of freaked out my son by texting him that we'd seen a clip from "Wedding Crashers" up on the big screen as part of the scripture reading.  As you may know, "Wedding Crashers" is not a religious movie.

In the 20 second clip wedding crashers John and Jeremy are sitting in the pew as a bridesmaid goes  up to read scripture.

John says:  20 bucks, First Corinthians.

Jeremy says:  Double or nothing Colossians 3:12.

Of course, John won.

First Corinthians is a favorite tattoo among some folks.  Some girls like to insert their boyfriends name in place of the word "love."  And, as wedding crasher John proved by winning his 20 bucks, it's almost a wedding requirement.

Does that make this scripture a cliche?

Dr. Bob clearly let us know the answer.

So we know that, while it's sometimes clearly misused, it can never be a cliche.

So let me close by clearly misusing the scripture but, never the less, telling a truth.

• Dave is patient.
• Dave is kind.
• Dave does not envy.
• Dave does not boast. 
• Dave is not proud. 
• Dave is not rude.
• Dave is not self-seeking.
• Dave is not easily angered. 
• Dave keeps no record of wrongs.
• Dave does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.
• Dave always protects. 
• Dave always trusts.
• Dave always hopes.
• Dave always perseveres. 
• Dave never gives up. 

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Normandy

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy.  Watching the Brian Williams special last night reminded me of my uncles coming home from the war and how different they were.

I guess the point is:  War changes us.

In 2007 I took the most romantic trip you could imagine.  This new man in my life, Dave, and I flew to Paris, then boarded a beautiful small ship for a seven day trip up the Seine River.

We were young (I was not yet 70) and oh, so much in love.  (And still are!)

We spent the second day at Claude Monet's home in Giverney.  Exquisite beauty everywhere we looked.  Our plan was to cruise to LaHavre and then take the train back to Paris to spend a few more days in the world's most romantic city.

And we did.  But our last stop on the cruise was Normandy.  Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything more than a history lesson.  But it was a day we will never forget.  The beaches and the bomb craters looked exactly as I'd seen them in history books.  The most moving part was the cemeteries - with crosses as far as the eye could see.  We were both in tears much of the time.  We relived the day - D Day - when thousands of young men, boys really, died.

The French and others have done a good job of preserving the area.  That's a good thing.  But a hard thing to see and experience.

I wasn't surprised when these old vets on television last night remembered that day so clearly.  It's all still there.

In 2007 it was a very different day on our most romantic trip ever!


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Taxi Driver

Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere.  In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere...I'm God's lonely man.  Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver

This summer Dave and I decided to watch a few classic Netflix movies we've never seen.  A few days ago we watched Taxi Driver.

Oh my goodness!  I knew the movie was raw and real but I was still a little freaked.

We all know it has several stars and is directed by Martin Scorsese.  Some people think it's his  best movie.  Possibly.

But the film belongs to Robert De Niro.  He plays a mentally unstable Vietnam vet, New York cab driver.  When his character, Travis, said  I've got some bad ideas in my head,  I believed him.

But here's what blew me away.  The movie was made in 1976 and, sad to say, it's totally relevant today.  

For instance, we still have vets coming home who are all messed up and getting no help.  Some of them go berserk like Travis.  Why are we surprised?

We still have human trafficking.  Travis was enraged by seeing Jodie Foster as a 12 year old prostitute on the streets of New York.  We still have 12 year old prostitutes on the streets of every major city in the world.

 Taxi Driver was real and raw.  The ending scared me.  Travis was rewarded for his psychotic behavior.  That's relevant today as well.


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When Martin Luther Went Viral

Martin

As you know,  Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s about the same time the printing press was invented so his words (that he nailed up on the door)  traveled fast.

Last month, in FORUM, we studied Martin Luther in depth for three weeks under a fellow who really knows his Luther.  For the fourth session I led a discussion on Luther by simply using a few of his quotes I found on the Internet.

Since Martin Luther is often depicted as a harsh, angry German, I tried to find some quotes that showed his soft side.

As usual, the discussion was rich.

I really like this first one.  It's scary but all of us would be happier, better people if we did the same.

There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right. 

When my husband, Ken, used to have really rich dessert, like a big old hot fudge sundae, he would hold it up in the air and quote Martin Luther by saying "Sin Boldly!"  I don't personally think Luther was talking about hot fudge sundaes but here's the quote below.

Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. 

There are loads of Luther quotes about the wonders of marriage.  He didn't marry until he was in his 40s and spent the first few decades of his life in a Catholic monastery so meeting and falling in love with an actual woman must have been quite an experience.

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.  

Luther loved nature and animals, including dogs and cats.

The dog is the most faithful of animals...God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.  

He was also a music guy.

The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through music...A person who...does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper...

So there you have it.  Hope this makes you want to look him up and learn some more.  Just don't get him confused with Martin Luther King.  That's an entirely different guy.


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