THE NOTEBOOK (2004)

Someone once told me that I had to see The Notebook and dared me to watch it without crying. “It’s so romantic,” they swooned, “that it if doesn’t bring even a grown man to tears than he doesn’t have a heart.” I haven’t tested this theory on a man yet, but I can at least say that personally, I was indeed swept away by the love story of Allie and Noah.

In part, their story is so compelling because the spark is so believably portrayed by the handsome, brooding Ryan Gosling as “wrong side of the tracks” Noah and sweet, lovely Rachel McAdams as “rich girl next door” Allie (the two dated in real life after making this movie). They meet as teenagers at a fair in 1940, with Noah climbing the rigging of a Ferris wheel to beg Allie for a date. The proceeding summer is spent in a fit of youthful passion – dancing in the balmy Southern night, splashing in the ocean, jumping into swimming holes, and throwing themselves into each other with kisses as if the summer would never end. They share their dreams with each other, with Noah telling Allie he will one day restore an old plantation on the bayou. She describes what it should look like, right down to the color of the shutters. Just as they are about to consummate their love, the summer comes to a dramatic, crashing end. A voice over says, “summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.”

Without spoiling anything, there is a scene that takes place many years after that summer.Allie, now engaged, finds out that Noah has restored the mansion, just like he said he would. She goes back to see him one more time before she gets married. During her visit, Noah takes Allie out on a rowboat into a grove of trees where hundreds of white birds surround them. Even after all this time, Noah remembered a day long ago on a windy beach when Allie revealed that sometimes, she wishes to be as free as bird. On the return trip, it begins to storm. Allie throws her head back to the heavens with a grand sigh and as they step out onto the dock, soaking wet with clothes clinging to their dripping bodies, she demands, “Why didn’t you write me? Why? It wasn’t over for me! I waited for you for seven years and now it’s too late!” What follows is a scene of such passion it will have every woman praying for rain.

There is another story within The Notebook involving an older couple in a nursing home. It is a sweet story, although sometimes it takes us away from Noah and Allie just when we’re getting into a good part. But their scenes are woven into the movie nicely, especially at the end.

The Notebook gets my sensual stamp of approval, especially for reminding a jaded 21^st century girl what all-consuming, breathless romance looks like. In one of his letters to Allie, Noah wrote, “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” Watching this movie, you’ll want to find your own Noah and spend the summer making fireworks.