friday feeling- the way we were

*Warning may contain spoilers!

This is the part of my blog where I review a place, a film, an item of clothing...anything that I fancy really.

This week I have decided to review, supposedly the most romantic film of all time, 'The Way We Were'. 

My reasons for watching this film were two-fold, recommended by my best friend and Carrie Bradshaw, watching ‘The Way We Were’ has been on my to do list for a while. 

Famous perhaps more so for its sound track, ‘The Way We Were’ which was sung by Streisand herself, this film shows two of the very greatest at their very best.

Starring the beautiful Robert Redford alongside Barbra Streisand, the film revolves around two star-crossed lovers who can neither live with or without each other. 

Redford plays Hubbell Gardiner and Streisand Katie Morosky, the characters who are sure to make you laugh and cry.

The film itself touches upon much more than just the perils of love, it dives into the issues surrounding foreign war, domestic prosperity and political unrest.

Katie, who is the secretary of the young communist league on campus, is at the heart of all this action. 

The film starts with a flash back, both Katie and Hubble attend the same college but despite this they live very different lives.

Hubble’s attention is focused on self-indulgent things such as popularity and pursuing women, where as Katie is much more of a humanitarian, helping others and desperately pursuing her political interests.

The audience are teased at the beginning with the potential relationship between the two. Evidently Katie adores Hubble, but what she most likes about him is his writing, which to her surprise is even better than her own.

As an audience rather disappointingly we don't get too hear much of Hubble's stories, we just know they are of high standing. 

When the two finally re-kindle their relationship some ten years later and get married, the path to true love certainly does not run smoothly.

Katie’s politically active mind sends Hubble to despair, and although at first he believes it’s charming, when they get married it starts to drive them apart.

Hubble, who is originally in the navy but is encouraged by Katie to become an author, knows deep down that his marriage is falling apart. 

Katie disapproves of his friends, as they are often uncouth and rude about the president and his wife. 

With all this, Hubble has an affair with his high school sweetheart, who was once his best friends ex-wife. This situation is made all the worse as Katie is pregnant at the time.

At this part in the film I though it was a bit odd as not much was made of Katie’s pregnancy- she didn’t even have an obvious baby bump!  

Katie, having realised the affair, is desperate to reconcile and save their marriage. Hubble on the other hand has other ideas and has no energy left to fight. I really felt for Katie as this stage, as Hubble abandons her and her unborn child. Not much is made of this either and at the end of the film when they bump into each other on the street, he doesn’t seem bothered about his child who he has never met.

Through out the film the relationship is off and on and Hubble is usually the only who dictates which way this goes. Undoubtedly he has the upper hand and Katie is desperately seeking his love, the way she desperately seeks acceptance from her political audiences. Katie's desperation at times is hard to watch, as she will do anything to make her marriage work. 

The relationship it seems is simply not meant to be and ultimately it just cannot be revived.

This film, although it made me sad at times, is incredibly refreshing as audiences are presented with the idea that happy endings don’t always exist and relationships don’t always work out.

The film ended with Katie and Hubble bumping into each other on the streets of New York some time after their separation. 

Hubble had met someone else and Katie has re-discovered her love for politics, continuing to protest incessantly. It would seem that in a sense there is a happy ending, as although her marriage broke down, Katie finally manages to let Hubble go, ‘Your girl is lovely Hubble’. 

This film is sad to watch at times and although my boyfriend certainly didn’t appreciate it, I would advice all my girlfriends to watch it, particularly if they need a good cry! 

'see ya kid'!

* Disclaimer: this review is based upon my own thoughts and findings