EAT PRAY LOVE

Let’s just say I didn’t expect to like this movie.   I had attempted to read the book.  I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t do it.  To be honest, I didn’t give it a red hot go because it just didn’t appeal to me at the time.   I’ve found the people who  swear by Eat, Pray Love and would just about take a bullet for Liz Gilbert the author, have recently gone through a life struggle of some kind themselves.  That doesn’t mean the non-fiction, best seller isn’t fantastic, it’s just that for me, I didn’t identify with it at the time.

And let’s face it, when reading something that mirrors our own experience, it’s fair to say, it’s a lot more interesting for the person doing the reading, than say something that doesn't. So when Elizabeth Gilbert penned her story, which in short, is about her being bored with life, uneasy with her marriage and over her seemingly fantastic career, she resonated with many people.  

The movie, from what I understand, omits a lot of the book as often happens when a book gets adapted to screen.  Because of this, some of the feelings, the apprehension and the crisis that is supposedly affecting Liz, played by Julia Roberts, aren’t all that obvious in the film.

The movie, like the book, centres around Elizabeth Gilbert, a writer who, again this is how the movie portrays her, seems to have a pretty sweet life traveling from exotic destination to exotic destination penning columns for a magazine.  She also has “another book” coming out in the near future.  Her professional life is going great.  She’s married to an affable guy who hasn’t quite pinned down his chosen career and who is thinking of going back to University to study.  Presumably on her dime.  He longs for children. She doesn’t. 

It’s about this time; Liz interviews an Indonesian medicine man in Bali who tells her 3 things.

She will have two marriages. One long.  One short.  She will lose all her money.  But she will make it back again.  And she will come back and visit him again.   At this point I wondered if she kind of made the prophecy come true.  Like when you see a psychic and she tells you will sell your house, even though it’s the furtherest thing from your mind.  Suddenly, something unexpected happens, you see a "sign" and it's time to sell the house.  Did he just plant the seed and she watered the garden?

So Liz chucks it all in.  Essentially she runs away from her husband, breaks his heart, hooks up with a guy very much her junior within a relatively short period of time and lives with him.  That too, although poorly represented in the movie, goes to hell in a hand basket with Liz finding it is not working.  She is not happy and she needs to “find herself”. 

At total odds with her situation, she plans a year that takes in Italy, where she eats, India, where she prays and Bali, where she finds love.  The fact that Liz meets a collective bunch of friends and acquaintances along the way, certainly helps her journey of self-discovery.  I wonder what her outcome would have been, had she not met the people she did.  Very different I Imagine.  Loneliness makes your heart break a little more.

So, did it work?  Yeah, it was watchable.  The scenery was glorious and made me, a fairly unseasoned traveler; want to investigate the chances of one day seeing some of these beautiful spots, especially Rome.   Did it make me want to chuck in my day job, nick off to Italy to feed my face until I burst my jean buttons?  No.  It made me appreciate that I am happy with my everyday life.  But she wasn’t happy with that, and that’s why she did what she did.  And no one should judge another when it comes to one’s own personal happiness. 

Julia Roberts is well, Julia Roberts.  She could lie down in cow dung and make pig noises and she’d still have loyal followers and people to love her.  For me, it was all I could see.  Julia Roberts.  A different actor would have made this movie so different in my honest opinion.

So should you drop a twenty and go see it?  Yes and no.  If you want a night out with the girls where you get all philosophical on yourselves after wards - YES.  If you really don’t have the twenty to waste - NO.   Oh, but the soundtrack – a definite YES.

There are over 403 Liz Gilbert Quotes.  That’s a lot of self help.  For my money, I still think all you need in life is the Sunscreen Song:

Everybody's Free (to wear sunscreen) Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are NOT as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch. Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone. Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own. Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don't follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard;  live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will  philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth. But trust me on the sunscreen. from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet music from the House of Iona, Something For Everybody