Lesson 4 - Forget Paris

Is love REALLY in the air? 

 In conjunction with Valentines day, many of us were feeling in the mood for some mushy-wushy touchy-feely-huggie-rubbie-ness and voted for a romantic love story. Little did we know that a trip to the city of love could bring us such a plethora of emotions!

Forget Paris (1995) is a love-comedy which features Billy Crystal and Debra Winger as Mickey and Ellen, two unassuming individuals who meet in the most uncanny of circumstances - an airport in France. What was initially meant to be a trip to bury his father became a trip full of infatuation, tingling excitement, and ultimately, full of a girl who would be the centre of his universe for well, most of the rest of his life, or so we hope (I'll explain why later).

 

If you take a good look at the above poster, or even watch the trailer, you would notice that they say this is a comedy about love... AFTER MARRIAGE !
It sure was! What I really like about this show was that it was NOT one more typical show that depicted a fairy-tale love, unrealistic images of an out-of-this-world quintessential hero-guy who sweeps the beautiful damsel-in-distress off her feet and carries her into the sunset. Instead, it very carefully painted out a picture of a normal, realistic relationship.

Check out this link for an example of somewhat realistic stages of a relationship! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdELZxEnHY  

What I enjoyed was the rather accurate portrayal of a relationship, after the honeymoon phase, especially if a couple enters a relationship with unrealistic expectations. As the excitement and limerence dies down, it is soon replaced by tensions, bitterness and bickering as the couple finds that each party wants their way in life, but cannot have everything they want as they have to compromise for each other.

Above: Mickey and Ellen in Paris 

Meeting Ellen was enough to make Mickey fall "in love" and he could not get enough of her, even to the extend where he could not referee properly thinking about her. Subsequently, Ellen was willing to drop all she had and was doing to marry Mickey. All the dreaminess ended when Ellen found she was not happy with Mickey having to be away and her having to be alone with a crappy job, and Mickey found it hard to succumb to what Ellen wanted, as that would have meant quitting his job.

Above: Mickey, small and spritely, fair and accurate. 

The best referee

Another interesting thing about this film is that you never actually "meet" the main characters until the end of the show. Throughout the whole movie, the story of Mickey and Ellen are being told by their friends. It begins with forty-something couple Andy and Liz, Liz being Andy's fiance and Andy telling her the story of this wonderful man named Mickey. They are later joined by friends Craig and Lucy, then Jack and Lois, who add to the story of Mickey and Ellen. To add a dash of humour to the story telling is the waiter who comes at every interval to take an order, and provide a simile for wine with reference to his own...personality.

Some actor/actress fun facts: 

Fact 1: Andy is played by Joe Mantegna, 

the guy whom most of us know, 

as a much older David Rossi, 

from Criminal Minds

Fact 2: Remember this lady? She plays Lucy, 

Craig's wife (the one who weighed the lime and olive -.-)

She played Elleanor in our first movie of the Semester - Awakenings

She also is the voice of Marge Simpson on the Simpsons!  

All in all, this movie was able to capture the attention of the audience with its attention grabbers, its sense of wit, as well as its ability to allow the audience to relate and empathize with the characters at every emotional moment. The message was profound yet the way it was presented, humourous and dry, allowed the audience to leave light-hearted. Definitely would recommend this film to couples who are planning to tie the knot!

Above: Ooh treasure! Excerpts from the movie XD

Love is a commitment to ensure, that the other person is growing in all facets of life (Goh, 2012).

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113097/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ZHyJoKYnM