by The Cowl Editor on February 14, 2019
Film and Television
THE NOTEBOOK
by Catherine Goldberg ’20 A&E Staff
What is the most romantic movie ever made? Perhaps one of the most popular opinions among females at Providence College would be The Notebook. The 2004 film based on the Nicholas Sparks novel features a young Ryan Gosling playing Noah Calhoun, and Rachel McAdams playing Allie Hamilton.
The epic love story cuts between the couple at two stages in their lives. The film takes place in 1940s South Carolina, where mill worker Noah Calhoun resides, and debutante Allie spends her summers with her family. The two meet at a county fair and eventually fall desperately in love, but Allie’s parents do not approve.
When the two separate as Allie goes off to college and Noah fights in World War II, they carry their love with them for seven years, but eventually, Allie gets engaged to another man. However, fate brings them back together.
When Allie sees a photo Noah in the newspaper with a house he built, based on the one they had dreamed of having together when they were young and in love, she rushes to see him. They come to realize that the spark and their love is still very much there. Allie ends up leaving her fiancé to marry Noah.
We see the couple in another phase of life in a series of flashbacks throughout the movie. The elderly couple live together in a nursing home, and Allie suffers from a severe case of Alzheimer’s disease. The Notebook focuses on the roots of a marriage for life, not the heartbreaking effects of such an awful disease. Noah tries to remind Allie of their epic love story by reading Allie’s old notebook out loud to her in the nursing home.
A definite tear-jerker, yet perfect display of true love, The Notebook is definitely in the running for best Valentine’s Day movie.
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE
by Brigid Walshe ’19 A&E Staff
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, it is time to start thinking about what quintessential, classic love stories you will want to watch with a box of chocolates, curled up on the couch. One of those has to be Sleepless in Seattle.
The plot follows Sam, who is still mourning the loss of his wife, Maggie. His son Jonah calls into a radio show and gets Sam to talk about how he is still hurt and missing Maggie. He becomes an overnight sensation, gaining the nickname “Sleepless in Seattle” from the radio show. Annie Reed, a Baltimore journalist, happens to hear his story on the radio, and it touches her so much that she starts to question her own life, including her engagement to her fiancé, Walter. Conflicted, she goes out on a mission to find Sam in person.
Sleepless in Seattle features two of the biggest film stars of the 1990s: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Both portray their characters in a normal and loveable way, exuding a convincing chemistry. What makes this movie so great is that it shows how fate and destiny were on their side in the end. The movie is filled with coincidences, grief, miracles, and love, demonstrating how in a world bigger than ever, we still end up where we need to be. It also shows that we can find love again, even when we are not expecting it.
It has been more than 25 years since the film was released, but it is a film that is both romantic and real, even in 2019.