A daily journal of our lives (begun in October 2010), in photos (many taken by my wife, Evie) and words, mostly from our home on Chautauqua Lake, in Western New York, where my wife Evie and I live, after my having retired from teaching English for forty-five years in Hawaii, Turkey, and Ohio. We have three children, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandson, as you will notice if you follow my blog since we often travel to visit them. Photo from our porch taken on 11/03/2024 at 7:07 AM
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Shopgirl---a movie from Steve Martin
I was not sure about this movie because I don't usually like Steve Martin. I get tired of looking at his aggrieved, woe is me face, or at least, that's the kind of movies I associate with him, most recently Julia and Julia. But I like Claire Danes, so I rented the movie, reluctantly, but thinking it would be light and easy to watch. There is really not too much to it. In the beginning, Claire meets Jeremy, a sloppy, dirty loser, or so he seems, as he tries to sort out his life. She ends up sleeping with him, however, which is never explained. That's Part I. Part II revolves around Claire's relationship with Steve Martin, a very wealthy single late middle ager, who woos Claire, beginning with buying a pair of gloves from her at Saks, then having them delivered to her house. He is not aggressive, but his patience has an end...a mostly sexual relationship with, her thinks, the clear message that this will go nowhere. We are never quite sure how he feels about her; he is very nice to her, takes her to New York, pays off her college loan, but remains distant, content to have a pretty, sexy young girl around, but not 'too around.' Predictably, they break up a couple of times, then after a honest discussion about their future, she asks the right question: "Why can't you love me? Martin just shrugs his shoulders, never answering it, and she decides either she will be hurt now or later, so she might as well be hurt now. He lets her go. Meanwhile, Jeremy has cleaned up his act, gone on tour with a rock band, and meets Clair at an art gallery opening. He has metamorphosed into a fairly confident, good looking yuppie, and they immediately are drawn together. He attributes his success to her telling him on the first date to just 'do it'. She doesn't remember but it doesn't matter. A final meeting with Steve Martin at another art opening reassures her she made the right choice. He is not quite sure, though the voice over, Martin's voice, suggest that Jeremy is able to give her what Martin couldn't, himself fully, not just sexually, and so the movie ends.
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