even to this day, as a 42 year old married mom. I feel the same angst as when I was 14, when I first watched this film.
shareI know what u mean....I cried sooo much when I saw this movie!
I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.
-Elizabeth Bennet
I watched it for the first time today, and heartbreaking is definitely the word for it. Such a good movie.
shareMy heart must be made of ice. Ice made with a beverage high in corn syrup. I laughed at the behavior of Natalie Wood's character and was perturbed by the quaintnes of it all throughout. I'm only 29 though-and I laugh at Jane Austen adaptions and those Ivory/Merchant films too. Though I actually like the former two types of films. I did not enjoy "Splendor In The Grass."
shareNow that you're forty-two, maybe you get it a bit more.
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I bought it a while back, because it has one of my favorite actresses in it, Natalie Wood, and I couldn't believe how sad it was....
Cupcakes and Pink Glitter. Mmmm.
It was groundbreaking. It broke the old (and for the most part still current) movie formula of Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl, by omitting the final element (a/k/a "The Hollywood Ending").
shareThere has never been a movie that better captures the pain and intensity of first real love. Every time I watch it it takes me back to being 17 years old and losing my first love. It hurt so badly I actually thought I would die. When we grow up we realize that this sort of emotion isnt healthy but I think part of us always yearns to feel it again. This movie makes me remember...
shareToo true. The first time I watched it I was pretty young. It was a beautiful if sad movie. Later, after my first relationship I can hardly bear to watch it as it just stirs up such poignant, sweet and painful feelings of what might have been.
shareExactly. I think everyone with a heart has someone in their past like that. Geez I almost started crying when I read your reply!
sharethis is my favorite movie of all time..everytime I watch it, I want the ending to be different..
So funny; I feel the same. I want so much for the ending to be different, but it never is!
The angst I feel every time I see it never changes. I think this movie is timeless, and something that anyone who has known true first love can relate to.
I completely agree. It really captures that ache of losing your first true love. I think one thing that was effective is is showed them as already together at the start of the film, rather than making it seem like they met and two days later were crazy in love. The screenplay was also great, without Deanie and Bud having crazy declarations of love in a poetic way. You just saw how they looked at each other. The actors did a great job, showing their inner turmoil: Deanie at the beginning asking her mom if she ever felt "that way" about her Dad, and her mom says "no NICE girl feels like that." and Beatty when he is trying to talk to his Dad about wanting to ranch and go to at school with Deanie, while his Dad bulldozes right over him. You feel that tension and frustration just looking at them.
Some people laugh about Deanie "going cray" but it's not really far off. Maybe actually being committed was a stretch, but we forget this is the 1920s in Kansas. We have great breakup songs, now, lots of books, magazines, and outlets to help us through relationships and breakups. We have anti-depressants with no stigma now to help with grief. Deanie was totally repressed, and felt alone with no outlet for her grief, so yeah, she went to the extreme.
Also, even now, everyone has the one break up where you feel the world is over. What makes Splendor in the Grass so sad is it that there was no real reason they had to break up, as far as Deanie and Bud went. It's not like someone cheated, or fell out of love. The tragedy of this movie is that they were both deeply in love, but outside forces pushed them apart. I mean, Bud just dumps Deanie out of the blue, no explanation. I can imagine how hurt, confused, and heartbroken she was. Had Bud explained all the pressure he was feeling, how rough it was with his Father and sister, maybe Deanie could have helped him through, but he didn't give her a chance.
This really is one of the most romantic movies in have ever seen, and the best representation of heartbreak I have seen.
Yes. I was 17 years old when I lost my first true love. I remember so clearly the agony.I walked in circles around the house keening like a banshee and I was convinced I would feel that way for the rest of my life. I cried for weeks. I was inconsolable. Of course the pain did subside and I did grow up and find another love that has lasted 30 years. But I will never forget that pain. This movie captures that.
shareHeartbreaking is the word.
Like alliekat..., this reminds me of my first boyfriend. If not for timing, I think we would have made it. I can hardly watch this movie as the emotions are so raw and authentic.
Yes, it captures the intensity of young love and the pain of losing it. Yet even now, in my sixties, I think I'd be just as emotionally devastated by loss of love as I was at twenty. The difference would be that now I have the experience to know that I wouldn't die, and that with time I would recover.
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