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Something's
Gotta Give
Warner Bros. Pictures
123 minutes
Commentary by Sally Thomason
"Jack
Nicholson at his best."
"Heartwarming
and funny."
"Diane
Keaton is extraordinary."
The
comments of friends are correct. Something's Gotta
Give, a lighthearted, humorous depiction of the
dilemmas faced by two characters growing old in a youth-oriented
culture, is good entertainment. And more. It also offers
an insightful exploration of mature love. In
a subtle, heartwarming way, Nancy Meyers' writing and
direction reaches beyond the well-acted, yet predictable
plot and gives us a glimpse of the mysterious forces
upon which an authentic relationship is built. She does
not deny the allure of youth and beauty, but she also
shows us that true joy lies at a deeper, mysterious,
not-easily-understood and often-feared level of our being.
Climbing
inside the story is as easy as settling back in your
seat. At 63 Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) has never
married. Having made a fortune in the music industry,
he is a bon-vivant who devotes most of his energy and
resources to the conquest and enjoyment of young (under
30), eager and willing beauties. From the opening credits
we are dazzled with shots of gorgeous "knock–em-dead" young
females. In the first scene one of these icons of perfection
comes to life as extremely attractive, free-thinking
Marin Barry (Amanda Peet), daughter of the famous playwright
Erica Barry (Diane Keaton). Marin has invited Sanford
to her mother's posh beach house in the Hamptons for
a "relaxing weekend," but their casual tryst is interrupted
when Erica and her sister Zoe unexpectedly arrive at
the house for a few days of writing.
None too pleased with how things are working out, Harry immediately offers,
in fact insists, that he leave, but the women have other ideas. After an embarrassing
discussion over a couple of glasses of wine, the four decide that they should
all stay at the house and carry on with their original plans—Erica and sister
Zoe in the kitchen and at their writing desks, Harry and Marin elsewhere.
Yet
no sooner are Marin and Harry alone, when a cry for "Mother" brings
Erica out of the kitchen to find Harry on the floor suffering
a heart attack. After being admitted to a nearby hospital,
Harry is told by his attending physician, played by Keanu
Reeves, that he can only be released if he stays in the
vicinity. Over Erica's obvious displeasure, Harry is
transported back to her house to convalesce. The weekend
over, Marin and Zoe leave the Hamptons to return to their
city jobs. The ensuing developments in the relationship
between Erica and Harry from near loathing, to mutual
mistrust, to tentative overtures, to curious explorations,
to friendly engagement, to passionate love making, and
finally to comfortable companionship are predictable
and delightful.
Yes,
it's a good story, but there's more here than appears
at first glance. Something's Gotta Give tells
of two people risking their well-honed social/professional
self images and stepping out of their comfort zone to
take a leap of faith into a new relationship, a relationship
that feels totally alien. To take such risk is scary.
The success rate is low, the hurt rate high. It is difficult
to portray such a leap of faith cinematically. Film by
its very nature only portrays surface action. But through
the two hours of this movie we witness the structure
of two people's egos, crafted over years of successful
living, crack open to allow contact with their core selves
buried deep within and connection with an another soul.
We witness the fear, struggle and ultimate liberation
that comes with such personal risk. Breaking through
to love, both human and divine is not easy, but if our
efforts are sincere, the reward is a gift that is beyond
value.
In
his book CROSSING: Reclaiming the Landscape of Our
Lives, author Mark Barrett reminds us that "modern
culture is not very open to the symbolic interpretation
of experience....We see the surface, but we do not know
how to understand the depths." At first it seems that
Erica's relationship to Harry signifies only a chink
in her shell of self-control, a slight deviation from
the zipped-up lifestyle she has lived so far. Erica's
well-crafted persona has protected her from true intimacy,
and it has also concealed her core self. The movie's
action is so consistent with expected plot development
that one pivotal scene's powerful symbolism might easily
be overlooked. In the heat of passion, Erica asks Harry
to take scissors and cut through her turtleneck sweater.
Symbolically she is asking him to cut through her protective
armor, her lifestyle. In so doing, she makes herself
vulnerable and it changes her life. She opens herself
up to hurt. And hurt comes.
When
Harry regains his strength he leaves the Hamptons to
return to what he deems to be his "real" self. He wants
to resume his former lifestyle, but something has happened
to him as well. Emotional upheaval, self-questioning,
doubt and confusion culminate in a number of acute stress
attacks that he fears are repeats of his previous heart
rupture--at a very deep level they are. Harry's whole
life is falling, has fallen apart. Should, could, he
change his Casanovian personality to connect with one
woman, the type of woman he never before considered attractive?
Or for that matter, never considered.
Something's
Gotta Give has a fairy tale, "Hollywood" ending,
but like all folk tales it carries a profound lesson
for life. We are reminded that love, both human and
divine, comes when we break away from defining ourselves
by ego-cultivated images to live responsively from
the core of our deeper selves. Carl Jung told us that
individuals during their first forty years learn to
live in the world, accommodate to their culture and
accomplish material, professional and personal goals
by building a persona, an ego. Building a healthy ego
in the first half of life is an essential part of human
development. It is the way we learn to relate to the
world and become effective people. The problem is that
when all our effort goes to understanding and affecting
the outer world, we lose contact with our inner selves,
with the mysterious, non-rational depths of our being
that is the realm of authentic love. In order to recapture
that connection, to allow for the experience and expression
of true love, we cannot continue to live on a surface
level. As the movie title so aptly states, if we are
to live who we are, not who we have created as a product
of our culture, something's gotta give.
Copyright ©2003
Sally Thomason
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