Elise McKenna:"Is it you? Is it?"
Richard Collier: "Yes."
Today is June 27th, the day Richard Collier and Elise McKenna, two ill-fated lovers from different eras, meet on the beach by the Grand Hotel!
I just love this movie! It's one of most beautiful movies I have ever seen. I love it for its beauty, simplicity, gorgeous music and just all-around classic-ness. And the ever-lovely Jane Seymour, of course. : ) Normally I can't stand movies with time travel, but Somewhere in Time is the an exception. The first time I watched it I was a little leery of the whole time travel theme, but somehow they managed to make the transition between eras romantic, whimsical, amusing, and even somewhat believable. (No, I have not lost my mind. Of course I don't believe in time travel, but it is fun to pretend, no?) :P
The first encounter I had with the movie Somewhere in Time was when I first watched (I say "first" because since them I've probably watched it about seven times) Jane Seymour's A&E biography on the special features of the first season of Dr. Quinn. It showed part of the reunion scene when Richard sees Elise come back and they run to meet each other on the stairs of the hotel, a scene which Sadie and I have since dubbed "one of the most romantic scenes in cinematic history." Someday I'll do a post about those, we have quite a list. Anyway. Of course we were all very intrigued by it, being that is was a period drama set in the early 20th century, Jane Seymour was in it, and the music was by John Barry, whom my daddy has always admired for his James Bond soundtracks, but it wasn't until last summer that we finally borrowed it from the library and watched it.
Surprisingly, it wasn't love at first sight. Actually, quite frankly, I thought it was considerably boring (gasp!) and so did both my sisters. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting and I thought it was rather slow (which it is, kind of- the first half-hour or so of the movie takes place in the 1980s and basically just follows Richard Collier on his quest to travel back to 1912, which gets a tiny bit...um, dull, and Jane Seymour doesn't appear until 45 minutes into the movie. So in short, I liked it alright, but I wasn't too impressed.
However, after we watched it I did begin to like it more and more. So when I saw the DVD on sale for only $4, on a whim I bought it for Sadie for Christmas- one of the great things about having sisters with whom you share common interests is that you can buy them exactly what you would want, and then you can use it too- and we watched it again and completely fell in love with it. At least, I did. I think it's one of those movies that you have to already be familiar with to fully appreciate it, because the second time around it was like visiting a place I'd once been, seeing old friends again and uncovering old memories I had almost forgotten. It wasn't hardly boring at all, and soon after it became one of my favourite movies.
Christopher Reeve is not one of my favourite actors, but I liked him well enough as the playwrite Richard Collier. Richard isn't usually very serious and is somewhat boyish, but also very sincere and I have grown quite fond of him. Jane Seymour is possibly my favourite actress ever and while at first it was very different to see her as such a quiet and somewhat mysterious character, since I've known and loved her as Dr Quinn for so long, I soon grew to like Elise very much. Her dresses are absolutely gorgeous- this is probably my favourite era for fashions, and I just love her dresses! She and Christopher Reeve are not the best screen couple I have ever seen- not like Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant or anything like that- but I think they worked very well together and made quite a charming couple. Jane Seymour was just perfect as the beautiful and refined Elise McKenna, and Christopher Reeve was charming as the playful and boyish Richard Collier.
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| "I thought I'd lost you!" "Oh, never! Never, never, never!" |
As with most good movies, the music of Somewhere in Time adds greatly to the beauty of it. The score is composed by John Barry, one of the greatest film composers of all time (in my opinion), and is one of the most lovely I have ever heard. Sadie and I bought the soundtrack last year and have listened to it over an over (and over) and it is truly gorgeous. One of my favourite tracks, Is He the One, is played when Richard Collier first sees Elise's reflection in the window, walking alone on the beach....*sigh*.
The ending of the movie is not a happy one, however. The first time I watched it I actually got kind of annoyed, because it was just so...strange. It doesn't end happily, but it's not neccessarlily a bad ending either- it's not one of those endings that makes you think, "oh, WHY did I watch that?", but rather, it makes you believe in miracles and the power of true love. (And now I'm getting all sentimental.) :P
Somewhere in Time fans, do visit the official Somewhere in Time fansite for a fun trivia game, as well as any and all information you could possibly wish to know about the movie and the actors. If you haven't seen Somewhere in Time, I highly recommend that you do. Sink me if you don't love it! : )
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