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Remembering Grandma

Watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg reminded me of my grandmother who passed away when J was a couple of years old.  As some who lived past ninety, she had a lot of wisdom about old age and the process of aging. She used to say when the a person's time is nearly up, and they look back at their life, more often than not they would find that come out ahead and further than they thought they would. The good often outweighed the bad. She said that was true for her life as well. All the sufferings of the early years had given way to having safety and comfort among familiar things and people - the fact that her life was so routine was a big blessing for someone who had been through many upheavals - she was very glad for the lack of change.

This film which to me was a meditation on the nature of true love had a similar message. There is no one ideal true love. There were three relationships in this story that could qualify and each involved one of the two lead characters. To fall hopelessly in romantic, juvenile love which never comes to mature fruition can be the one true love of a person's life. But that does not preclude them from finding a person who loves them unconditionally and only desires to see their burdens eased - a more nurturing, older kind of love but not less true. And finally the love of a person who is sincere, without pretense and well aware of their limits and limitations - they can provide the foundation of what is an equal and reciprocal relationship - also a true love. The characters in this story love and lose and yet come out ahead in the end. We leave everyone in the closing credits better off than when we first made their acquaintance. 

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