MovieChat Forums > The Love Letter (1998) Discussion > Loved this movie, but was bothered by......

Loved this movie, but was bothered by....

posted 13 years ago by delia19461
6 replies | jump to latest

I was bothered by the fact that his fiancee was a truly loving and caring woman, who loved him very much. But he broke up with her. Now, after the "love affair" with Lizzie was over and he must have known it would eventually end, he would certainly want to lead a normal life, but the girl who really loved him was gone. Did he think he could go back in time somehow and be with Lizzie? He must have known that she was dead when it started with her and that's all he could have with Lizzie even though he did love her.

[–] jaysea2 13 years ago

Good point, but I think he just didn't "feel" what he wanted to feel for his fiancee. If you're not happy, you're not happy. He was being true to his feelings. Sure he had feelings for Lizzie but I think he knew that it was something that would never happen. She was from the past...and I like how they worked that. In the end of the movie...what can I say...I thought it was a good ending...uplifting after all he did to find out what happened to Lizzie. And when he met the lady with the dog...it was fate. The movie left you feeling that everything was going to be all right. If you've never seen the ending...please do. It's touching but not sad.

[–] naillon-2 12 years ago

I agree. The fiancee didn't even need to be in the story; it seems she only existed to be hurt by his actions. The movie would have worked just fine if the main character had been single.

[–] cruzlexie 12 years ago

I agree. I thought that the fiancee didn't add anything to the story. Scott/Caleb and Beth/Lizzie were meant to be and that means that the fiancee had to be hurt. It was just pointless to the plot. At least they didn't make the fiancee a total brat as in other movies where the guy is engaged to a woman but loves another.

[–] warren-1976 11 years ago

You know, I first saw this movie a good ten years ago at least, I think. Absolutely loved it, but at the time I must admit I found the part with the fiancee a bit unfair and needlessly hurtful to her character.

On the other hand, with all that's happened to me in the years since, I've just recently re-watched, and although they're some of the tougher scenes in the film, I think they add an extra dimension. It's basically about realising sometimes that no matter how you care about someone and don't want to hurt them, they're sometimes just not the right one. It adds a more human element to the story that stops it simply being extra sweet. It helps to make Scott and Lizzie's love stand out as something that was just destined to be, and sometimes in life that isn't always convenient or easy.

I was worried after not having seen it in so long, that I would be disappointed. Instead, having just managed to get hold of the DVD, it's re-affirmed this as one of my favourite romance movies, even if it was made for TV.

http://duncansguide.blogspot.com - My Reviews

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 11 years ago

I understand folks being put off by the modern day fiancee situation.

But I just presumed that they BOTH had to have people in their lives who weren't "THE ONE" in order for both of them to understand true love when it happened to them.

The fact that Scott's fiancee was a very nice woman who really loved him needed to be that way, because if she had been flawed in her behavior, there would have been a reason for him to break up with her--but there wasn't. She was perfectly nice.

But he just didn't love her "like Christmas tree lights going on..."

It was awful though to see how hurt she was--even though marrying her at that point would have been crueler in the long run.

Same with Reigle for her. He was a perfectly affable and kind man (of course he wouldn't support Lizzie's writing career but at that time in society that didn't make him a bad person, it would have just been typical of that time and place.)

So both fiances were okay people who were okay for Scotty and Lizzie,
but not "Christmas tree light" lovers.

They were not THE ONES.

So I found it a fine narrative aspect for them to exist.

[–] GAKDragon 8 years ago

Reading many of your comments, I agree with what's been said. Something that struck me, however, is the notion that before the story begins, Scott probably does believe that he can be completely happy with a nice woman like Debra- after all, that's probably why he proposed. I'm sure he even loves her, to some extent.

But then he takes up this relationship with Lizzie, both through letters and while unconscious as Caleb, and he experiences true, passionate, mind-blowing love. Once he wakes from his coma, he gradually starts to realize that he wants more from his relationship with his fiancée than she can give him -and that's not fair to her. It stinks, because life isn't fair, but he wants that experience of all-consuming love.

He knows he can't have it with Lizzie, due to the time-travel stuff, but he certainly isn't going to settle for anything less from Debra now that he knows what it feels like.

As she said after reading the letters, "If you don't feel this way about me, then I don't think we should even be together.".