Musings: Under the Tuscan Sun

So I rented Under the Tuscan Sun this weekend and I'm really enjoying it. It's refreshing to see mature people with lines on their faces live and enjoy their experiences. By the way, if you haven't seen it and maybe want to, please be warned there are spoilers for the movie ahead.

I love how it's not what's normally expected, each time you meet a man, you think this is the love interest and he's not. Someone points out to her that she's found the life she was looking for, and she didn't have a love interest at that point, even though she wanted one. I love that.

Sometimes I think people often come together because they are both lonely. They bond over the fact that they are both lonely and believe they will always be lonely and miserable. So they make an unspoken pact to keep each other company while they are alone. "Let's be lonely and miserable together." But is that really healthy? I think it would be healthier if we made our lives complete and accomplished everything we want to before we bring anybody else in. That's one of the things I really liked about this movie. She bought a house, wanted someone to cook for, wanted a family in the house, wanted a wedding in the house, but she thought she had to have a man be there for all those things. I thought it was great that she got all those things without the man and that it wasn't quite what she planned. Maybe it wasn't her wedding, or her baby, but she made her own family and was happy with it. She made peace with herself and found happiness. If only we could all be so smart.

There's also a story in there that Martini, an Italian gentleman, tells Frances, the main character, after she tells him of all the things she wishes to happen to her in her house. "Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come. "

More ramblings to come......