The film, The Notebook, is a romantic drama about the enduring love of two young lovers who are torn apart by the pressures of social status, war, as well as another significant obstacle, Alzheimer’s disease. As the film progresses, the passion shared by the protagonists develops into such a profound love that the audience cannot help but be drawn in and begin to hold a stake in the future of the couple. The film’s overarching theme of true love is not only supported by the heart-wrenching tale of burgeoning teen love that endures hardships, but also by the concept of eternal love as the male protagonist devotedly stays by his wife’s side through Alzheimer's. The cinematography, dialogue and superb editing all contributed to the setting the tone of the film. These combined cinematic components weave a story that has touched the hearts of many audiences, young and old.The Notebook is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel of the same title. The story was inspired by the grandparents of Sparks’ wife, who were married for over sixty years when Sparks met them. (According Nicolas Sparks.com) Sparks marveled at how much the couple cared for each other, and wrote his novel as homage to their love and life together. According to yahoo.movies.com; Nicholas Spark’s novel was adapted into film in 2004 and starred James Garner as the older Noah Calhoun, Gena Rowlands as older Allie Hamilton, Ryan Gosling as young Noah, Rachel McAdams as young Allie and Sam Shepard as Noah’s father, Frank Calhoun.
The plot centers around a poor country boy named Noah, who falls in love with Allie, a rich city girl. As their loves grows the audience sees that their love gives them both a sense of freedom that that have been dying to have. They soon are separated by their social differences, but are reconnected years later to rekindle their passion and love for one another. The Notebook is told through a series of flashback shots and is narrated by Noah, who in his eighties and resides in a nursing home. Noah begins to read the story to a woman who also lives at the nursing home. The juxtaposition of the tale of young love in comparison to the relationship of the woman and the older Noah himself appears to be a comparison of different stages of love: young and passionate compared to an enduring and elderly love. As the story progresses, it is unfolded to the audience that the elderly characters are actually the young lovers in the tale, which shows that passion can grow into a deeper love. The use of flashbacks in lieu of a linear story builds the audience’s connection with this couple and better displays the concept of love and how it grows. The audience becomes invested in the couple and it is as though the audience wants her to remember her past just as badly as Noah does.
Noah begins by telling the story of two lovers who meet in the south at a carnival. Through the narration, the audience is transported back to ‘simpler times’ where having fun was riding a Ferris wheel and going for ice cream. The costuming as scenery of the film is also reflective of the era. The carnival scene is a spitting image of something straight out of the 1940’s. The females in the film don elegant dresses, and the 1940’s era is reflected, down to their hairstyles, accessories, and makeup. Noah in his newsie cap looks just like a young man in that era. The film’s costume and set departments did a superb job of transporting the audience back in time.
Upon Noah and Allie’s first meeting when they are 17, the audience can see their chemistry clearly and already begin to understand the passion they will have for one another. Despite the fact that “they had nothing in common,” – ("The Notebook" Quotes)
Allie being a rich city girl and Noah being portrayed as the poor country boy, the audience can sense something magical between them. Sparks immediately fly after Noah’s recklessly proclaims his affections for Allie by climbing his way onto the Ferris wheel to the car that Allie is sitting in with another man. Noah inappropriately asks Allie out and while her first response is no, she eventually enthusiastically accepts after he dangles from the Ferris wheel, 100 feet in the air. The audience, however, knows that Noah has met his match in Allie when she pulls his pants down to embarrass him while he hangs from the Ferris wheel. As their love affair blossoms the story moves quickly; fast sequences are used, showing Noah and Allie spending time together in different places with their friends, over the summer months. While the scenes become quicker, the styling of the scenes still allows the audience to become enamored with the characters. One of the most beautiful and engaging scenes of the entire movie is when Noah and Allie dance in the middle of the street together after seeing a movie. What is so poignant about the scene is the song they dance to. “I’ll be Seeing You” is a song that, at its time, was supposed to be an inspiration of hope, a song to keep morale up during war time according to (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'll_Be_Seeing_You_ (song) 1938). In the scene the song has a lot of emotional significance. The audience is left with a sense that no matter what happens to these two characters throughout the movie, they will see each other again. The audience is also reminded that this is a flashback. They know that Allie now suffers from Alzheimer’s, but there is a sense that this story will ignite her memory, so the two lovers can see each other again and rekindle their love. The dancing scene is one of the most romantic scenes throughout the entire movie. The setting is a subtle, deserted street; it is as if nothing else in the world matters, just the two of them in that moment.
As the film goes on, Noah and Allie’s summer affair comes to an end as the two young lovers must deal with the challenges and pressures that come from their different social positions. Allie’s mother is the main force behind their separation. Her character wants a better life for her daughter, wants her to go to college and marry someone from a more ‘suitable’ background. Allie is defiant at first, but eventually Allie is forced to move and go to college. The audience sees the anguish this causes her in the scene where she is driving away in the car. The audience can see that she could give up school and her charmed life for Noah, but at that time they both realize that they are stuck. Neither of them has many choices about figuring out a way to stay together, so they end up going their separate ways.
While their young love affair may be over, the audience knows their relationship isn’t finished. Noah writes letters to Allie everyday for a year in hopes that if she’ll just write back he’ll come to wherever she is and be with her. Unfortunately, Allie’s mother intercepts the letters and Allie never sees any of them. Both of them feel rejected and thus start to move on with their lives. With Allie gone, Noah decides to enlist in the military where he is sent off the fight in WWII. It should be noted that although the scenes regarding Noah’s time at war are short and insignificant to the storyline, the director, Nick Cassavetes, and the cinematographer, Robert Fraisse, are able to skillfully depict the tragedy and loss of war. (The Notebook 2004) In those few minutes, the audience is transported to the cold and harsh winter of Nazi-occupied Europe where Noah and his best friend, Finn, must survive against a Nazi air attack. Men scatter and run for their lives while bombs are dropped from the air. When the smoke clears Noah finds Finn lying on the ground wounded. Noah watches on as his friend slowly losses consciousness and dies.
The audience feels for him knowing he’s lost his only friend and knowing so many more men also died in battle.
Allie carries on with her schooling and works as a nurse’s aide with Noah as her inspiration. She treats every man as if she is hoping that Noah will come into her hospital, but it is in the hospital where she works that she meets her next love, Lon Hammond, played by James Marsden who is exactly the type of man her parents envisioned her being with. To her surprise, as the narrator reads, she ends up really falling in love with him. It seems as though story is told this way specifically to confuse the audience. The story is supposed to be about Noah and Allie finding their way back to one another, both when they’re young and again when they’re older, so the entrance of James Marsden’s character is unsettling. Allie is supposed to live in defiance of her parent’s desires and go back to Noah, but in falling in love with Lon, she is putting her past with Noah behind her and willingly going into the life that her parents wanted for her. However, she is not falling into the arms of a man who is undeserving, as many other movies have portrayed this type of story, but with someone who really could be the love of her life. Eventually, Noah returns from the war and begins construction on the plantation-style house he always wanted with Allie on his mind constantly. When he goes to get the renovation plans approved in Charleston, he sees Allie for the first time in years, only she’s running into the arms of another man and Noah is crushed. He gets the notion in his head that if he fixes the house he will be able to regain the heart of his one true love. Once his father passes away, Noah becomes even more passionate about finishing the house because it is the only thing he has left. There is desperation to him and the audience sees him lose his mind in a way.
The director does an amazing job of weaving back and forth between the past and the present. The audience sees that as Noah reads the story of their life together in the present day, Allie starts to put the pieces of her life back together. Slowly, she starts to notice that the people and the events in the book are familiar to her and it is as though, not only Noah, but the audience too, is encouraging her to remember. They become invested in seeing her ‘come back to life,’ so to speak, and recognizing Noah again. The scene where Noah visits with the doctor and discusses reading to Allie is incredibly significant. In the scene they discuss how dementia is a degenerative disease and that reading to Allie won’t bring her back. Yet, as their finishing up their conversation Allie is playing the piano and is remembering how to play all on her own. This scene is significant because it depicts where scientific reasoning stops and when faith comes into play. Science can’t explain why Allie is slowly getting her memory back, at least momentarily, but both Noah and the audience believe it to be faith; faith that she will find a way back to him one way or another and that faith is incredibly strong. The audience again connects to this because unknowingly most people know someone who’s had or has Alzheimer’s or dementia. They know what it’s like to watch the person disappear right in front of their eyes and knowing that basically what is left is a shell of the person they were before. They know what this does to the families and friends around them and they too want to believe that with enough faith; that person will also return even just for a moment.
In another flashback Allie sees the renovated house with Noah proudly showing the fruit of his efforts in the newspaper and decides to pay Noah a visit. Their reunion after fourteen years brings on a flood of memories and strong emotions in both of them. They have dinner together and talk about their lives and the past. The next day Noah takes Allie on a boat and what the audience sees is truly beautiful. The soft, beautiful colors of the sunsets in this scene soften a very tense moment between the couple. Although the moment is tense due to misunderstanding, the gorgeous cinematography still captures the couple in an atmosphere of love.
Another element in this scene is the swans that surround them. The birds in the movie may represent freedom and reincarnation. Allie and Noah’s love is similar in the sense that it has provided them freedom from Allie’s sheltered life and Noah’s troubled upbringing. Their love is also reincarnated and will live on despite time, space, Alzheimer’s disease and even death. Although the film comes close to being a little too sweet, it has a tender and simplistic aspect that draws you in and keeps the audience invested in the characters.
Noah eventually reveals that he never gave up on Allie and she too realizes she’s still in love with him. They make love and are in a daze until Allie’s mom comes for her and Allie is then forced to choose between Noah and Lon. She knows she loves Noah but she doesn't want to hurt Lon. Older Noah stops reading the story before the audience knows who she chooses and older Allie is left feeling sad and lost. It all seems so familiar but she can’t quite make out her own story. Over a romantic dinner he tells her the rest of the story; that Allie chooses to be with Noah and it is as though a light goes on in her mind. A true miracle occurs and she gets her memory back. She now knows that the story is about them and that she is Allie and he is Noah. They are both elated and yet cautious because they don’t know how long this miracle will last. They dance slowly taking each other in, but eventually the miracle fades and Allie begins to panic because she doesn’t realize whom she is with.
At night Noah looks through old photos of he and Allie and reads the inscription in the book of their love story which reads that if he reads this to her, she’ll come back to him. He has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. He survives and once back at the nursing home, he decides to sneak into Allie’s room to see her. The nurse agrees to look the other way and Noah goes to Allie’s bedside to speak with her. From the start of their conversation she is able to remember Noah and asks him two of the most poignant questions of the entire movie. She asks, “Do you think that our love can create miracles?” He responds that he does because that’s what brings her back to him each time he reads the story. She then asks, “Do you think our love could take us away together?” (“The Notebook” Quotes) He responds with “I think our love can do anything we want it to.”(”The Notebook” Quotes)In the morning, they are both found dead, sleeping peacefully while holding hands. The film closes with a flock of birds flying over a lake. The film closing in this way is a symbol for their love living on as alluded to in earlier parts of the film. They are flying on into the next life together.
Again, what the movie centers around is the notion of how love can be unwavering. For the audience, especially for those who know someone who suffers from Alzheimer’s, this movie speaks volumes for them. It shows the hardships that those who suffer from the disease, and those who are around those who suffer from the disease, have to go through. Looking at my own personal experience, I am reminded of a story my mother told me. My mother takes care of my grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer’s and in one of many instances my mother got upset because my grandmother didn’t remember her. For some reason this time seem to upset my mom more than usual and my grandmother looked at her and something in her snapped into place. She remembered who she was and who my mom was and said to her, “I may not always know who are all the time, I may not remember your name or where you’re from, but I know that I love you. I know who someone special in my life is.”A true miracle.
References
The Notebook (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedian.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notebook_ (film)
I'll Be Seeing You (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/notebookthe/illbeseeingyou.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'll_Be_Seeing_You_ (song) 1938
The Notebook (2004) - IMDb
www.imdb.com/title
The Notebook (2004) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies
movies.yahoo.com/movie/
The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks
www.nicholassparks.com/
"The Notebook" Quotes
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