Those Were the Days

I love Friday nights and my ideal evening is to be able to go home with no plans so that I can curl up and watch a great movie. Last night's film was the 1966 award winning Un Homme et une Femme and it was wonderful. Growing up I had always known and loved the music but after watching the movie it was easy to see why it won two Oscars. This was the first time I had seen a film that featured Anouk Aimee and she was absolutely gorgeous. While I recognized her face, I had never seen her acting. I looked her up to see a current photo and she is still stunning at 77 years of age. What is the French woman's secret? Now we know why she is famous for saying, "You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older." After watching the film I began to think about a couple of things. First, how big our world is today. Growing up in Middle Georgia during the 60s this film never made it to our hometown theater but now our electronic world keeps us connected to just about anything, anytime. The second thing I realized is that I should have been born in the late 40's. I wish that I could have experienced the 60's as a teen or young adult. Instead I sat on the sidelines just observing, reading Seventeen magazine and being a tag-a-long to my older brother. When I look back and see films such as this or old films with flight attendants with pill box hats, or gentlemen jumping to open doors, shopping boxes stacked and tied with ribbon, roses being delivered in boxes and elevator service attendants (remember "Going up?") - those were the days. There is such a graciousness that sometimes gets lost in today's world. I should probably count my blessings that I was sent to a charm school because the school closed shortly after my class graduated. I was at least on the road to being a part of the era at the age of 12. Oh well, at least I have my Friday nights to watch old movies and enjoy the past.