Speaking of Kate Winslet, one of the movies I try to watch every Christmas time is The Holiday. On the surface the film, written and directed by Nancy Meyers, might seem just your average romantic comedy but the movie never fails to sweep me up, especially Kate Winslet's scenes with Eli Wallach. The opening sequence in which Iris (Winslet) is once again fucked over by Jasper Bloom is beautifully written and acted. The characters soliloquy about unrequited love always rips me just a little, as it is a love I am all too familiar with. I know we have all at one time or another have been in love with someone who is not in love with us but it really is, especially at Christmas time, the cruelest kind of love there is.
'Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space!'
Iris, The Holiday (2006)
