Reading literature and watching good films takes you into the lives of people so unlike yourself, who so often turn out to mirror of some hidden part of yourself or people you know.
While "The Land of the Moon" (new on Netflix) doesn't get high ratings from all viewers, I think it's brilliant! I will watch it again and read the novel on which it's based. It is visually beautiful and profoundly provocative. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.
The main character, Gabrielle, has perhaps some unnamed mental illness. Her emotions are mostly muted, at times exaggerated or bizarre, if you take our usual conditioned behaviors as normal.
What if we only smiled if we truly felt like it?
Can you imagine telling your future groom, "I'm never going to love you."
Or saying, "This week I'm going to stay in bed and don't want to be disturbed"?
Gabrielle is either slightly "off" or more "on" than most of us know how to be--authentically herself, even when it shocks our sensibilities to witness it.
The online description of the film describes her marriage to Jose as "loveless." While it appears so, the evolution of the relationship between Jose (from Spain) and the French Gabrielle is surprising in ways I won't give away.
After a piano performance of her son, Gabrielle's mother says to Jose: "I don't find Gabrielle very affectionate with the boy."
Jose's response, as he slowly pours a glass of wine, is measured, without judgment: "Perhaps, she was never taught any different."
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