Have you ever watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun? I just watched it, for what might be the 100th time. I think of this as my “break-up” movie. Though the first time I saw it, I was blissfully unaware that I was about to break up with my husband. Seriously I think I got hit with that news not a week after going to the movies to see this film. When I saw it at the theater, I thought it was a cute movie but that was about it.
But the next time I saw it I was in the throws of an unwanted break-up. I watched Diane Lane travel the same road I had, except that my husband did not cheat on me OR that I could not just up and move to Tuscany to start over. But the pain and hopelessness, THAT is universal. I really could relate to the part in the movie where she says that the ending of a relationship should kill you, because "You should not have to wake up day after day, after something like that, trying to understand…”.
The person who wrote this movie clearly when through a divorce, because it was just so raw and so relatable.
I would watch it over and over and cry, and feel sorry for her and for myself. And the movie helped me feel less alone, it helped me to see that she was suffering like I was. Of course she got her happy ending in under two hours and it took me a bit longer. But even now I still love that movie, because It was with me when I needed it most.
When I go back to watch it these days I enjoy it for what it is, and old friend. I can still feel her pain as she goes through her journey, but I also feel hope and have the understanding that we needed to go through all of that to be where we are now. And yes it sucked, and yes it hurt like hell….but it was worth it....to get my own happy ending.
