How To Make An American Quilt
There is a movie that I like called How To Make An American Quilt and I have been thinking about one character in particular: Sophia Darling. I think her character is very close to who I am. In the movie each woman tells the story of their greatest love. Sophia's story is as follows:
When she was young, Sophia was a talented diver with dreams of escaping her small town and alcholic crazy mother. One day she meets a boy whilst diving at the local pool and romance ensues. He's attracted by her fearlessness and she believes he can take her away from her current, suppressive way of life. However, motherhood turns out to be just as -- if not more -- suppressive, and married life soon grinds her down. With three children and little help from her husband who is frequently away because of his job, she no longer has time to dive and eventually forgets the feeling of freedom and escape it gives her. One day she snaps at her husband for digging a pond in the back garden. In an attempt to remind her of the girl he fell in love with, he tells her the pond is for her to paddle in. After she rejects his efforts, he realizes that her free spirit is gone. One morning he leaves for work, never to return. Abandoned, bitter, and trapped in a life she didn't want, Sophia ironically ends up like her overbearing mother, particularly in her relationship with Finn.
Years later, when the wind blows part of Finn's thesis into the pond, she wades in to get it. With her feet in the pool, she remembers what her husband tried to remind her of all those years ago, and one of the last scenes shows her diving off the high dive.
The thing that sticks out most in my mind about this story is that there is the point that right before her husband leaves her she wakes up in the middle of the night and whispers to him that she wants to go swimming with him and he doesn't wake up. She gives up and goes back to sleep. Early in the morning her husband gets up and starts packing his bags and she doesn't wake up even though he kisses her on the forehead.
What stands out to me is that if for one minute fate would have woken either of them up at a poignant moment they might have found what they had lost in the other one. It seems to me that so often we lose out on some one else because either one person won't speak up or the other one won't listen even if they love each other greatly. Why is it that so often we can't seem to match up.
The scene above is the only scene in the entire movie that I cry in. The other stories are probably more heart breaking to other people but this is the one that always gets me.
When she was young, Sophia was a talented diver with dreams of escaping her small town and alcholic crazy mother. One day she meets a boy whilst diving at the local pool and romance ensues. He's attracted by her fearlessness and she believes he can take her away from her current, suppressive way of life. However, motherhood turns out to be just as -- if not more -- suppressive, and married life soon grinds her down. With three children and little help from her husband who is frequently away because of his job, she no longer has time to dive and eventually forgets the feeling of freedom and escape it gives her. One day she snaps at her husband for digging a pond in the back garden. In an attempt to remind her of the girl he fell in love with, he tells her the pond is for her to paddle in. After she rejects his efforts, he realizes that her free spirit is gone. One morning he leaves for work, never to return. Abandoned, bitter, and trapped in a life she didn't want, Sophia ironically ends up like her overbearing mother, particularly in her relationship with Finn.
Years later, when the wind blows part of Finn's thesis into the pond, she wades in to get it. With her feet in the pool, she remembers what her husband tried to remind her of all those years ago, and one of the last scenes shows her diving off the high dive.
The thing that sticks out most in my mind about this story is that there is the point that right before her husband leaves her she wakes up in the middle of the night and whispers to him that she wants to go swimming with him and he doesn't wake up. She gives up and goes back to sleep. Early in the morning her husband gets up and starts packing his bags and she doesn't wake up even though he kisses her on the forehead.
What stands out to me is that if for one minute fate would have woken either of them up at a poignant moment they might have found what they had lost in the other one. It seems to me that so often we lose out on some one else because either one person won't speak up or the other one won't listen even if they love each other greatly. Why is it that so often we can't seem to match up.
The scene above is the only scene in the entire movie that I cry in. The other stories are probably more heart breaking to other people but this is the one that always gets me.