My Favorite Romantic Movie

 

 

“Evergreen”

 

When I was asked about favorite romantic movies, the answer was easy. Hands down, our favorite movie is “Barry Lyndon.” Nothing else even comes close. It’s a long story, dating back to 1976. Prior to a month we still refer to as “enchanted April,” we were just co-workers in the same department at the newspaper. I’d known her for two years and wanted desperately to date her, but how? Trust me, this woman was waaaay out of my league, and I knew it. I also knew that if I asked her for a date, she’d decline on the grounds that we worked in the same department, and I would forever be dead in the water. Two things coalesced.

 

First, she signed up for a writing class at a junior college. She knew I was a writer, and she asked me for a lesson. We met at my place, and she was pleasantly surprised when I did not “make the moves on her.” I have always thought that sort of thing was very underhanded. I was a complete gentleman, and at some point in the lesson she realized that I really was trying to teach her. My birthday was a few weeks later in April, so she invited me over to her place for a birthday dinner. I’ve written about that evening elsewhere in a blog entitled “Love’s More Comfortable.” Here I will say that from the moment I entered her apartment, it was if someone had flipped on a light. All these years later the light has never flickered or dimmed. So that was the first night.

The second item was music. She was not herself a fan of classical music but knew that I was. The movie “Barry Lyndon” directed by Stanley Kubrick came out in March of 1976, and one morning she came in gushing about the music used in the movie. She said she’d been so impressed that she’d stayed to read the credits and was astounded to learn that it was all classical music.

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After such an amazing first night, we got together for a second evening at her apartment the following Saturday. Knowing how impressed she was with the music, I got a record of the soundtrack for “Barry Lyndon” and took it with me. We, um, got to know each other VERY well that evening, and one of the records continually playing in the other room was that soundtrack.

 

That Sunday I was back at my apartment, and not having seen the movie to that point, I went to a showing of it. I entered the theater just as the end credits of the previous showing of it were airing. It starts with an arrangement of a sarabande by Handel, and when I heard it (having heard it so many times the previous night), my knees actually buckled. If I hadn’t grabbed the back of a chair, I think I would have fallen down.

 

It was the power of that music along with the certain knowledge that I had, after so many years alone, found the woman of my dreams. Four months and eleven days after that birthday dinner, I had dinner with my bride. And this morning, 36 years, 10 months, and 5 days after the first dinner as husband and wife, I had coffee with her. She’s still the one!

 

When we got our first DVD player, “Barry Lyndon” was the first one we purchased for it, and we still watch it from time to time, snuggling on the couch together, remembering a long ago evening that is like our love: ageless and ever evergreen.

 

Joseph

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