Sunday, November 18, 2007

The truth hurts

Every now and then I hear a quote from a movie that rings so true for me that it is almost painful. The other night while watching The Holiday, I had one of those moments. It's not easy to admit that a piece of silly fluff such as this had a line that almost caused me to fall over with the sheer simplicity of its truth, but that's what blogs are for.

In the movie, Iris (Kate Winslet) is an Englishwoman who, in a completely improbable set of circumstances, switches houses for a few weeks with an American woman named Amanda (Cameron Diaz). Iris's primary reason for doing such a thing is to get away from an extremely unhealthy and dysfunctional relationship, a situation that I am all too familiar with. While having dinner with Amanda's charming elderly neighbor, Arthur, Iris learns the key to her problems with her life.

Arthur: Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Iris: You're so right. You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god's sake! Arthur, I've been going to a therapist for three years, and she's never explained things to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.

Wow. Yes! You are supposed to be the leading lady of your own life! Thank you! I have never been one to want to draw attention to myself - in both my personal and professional lives. I can't tell you how many times have I acquiesced to someone else so that I don't step on toes or hurt feelings. But now I see that it's alright for me to call attention to myself. I don't have to stand back and give others the spotlight. I can take credit when I have earned it. I can enjoy attention from others even if it means someone else will not be the center of attention for a while. It's OK to be the star of my own life!

At least I didn't spend three years in therapy for this.

Thanks Arthur!

9 comments:

Sizzle said...

when i saw that movie in the theater, i had the SAME "a ha!" moment. it rang too true for me as well.

be the leading lady- you deserve nothing less!

yournamehere said...

So now you'll be even more "you"? I can hardly wait.

Ubermilf said...

I want to be a stunt double.

Anonymous said...

I don't blog for a few months (well at least 6!), and when I return you've moved.

Anyway, that does sound painfully familiar. I came to the same conclusion just last week at work. I'm sick of people taking credit where it's not due, it's time for us nice people to take a stand and stop being so bloody nice all the time.

Ashley said...

I totally relate with that line too. And dysfunctional relationships...ummm, I've been the queen of that. This movie was better than I thought it was going to be...it totally spoke to me too.

Mackenzie said...

I REALLY needed to hear this today, Brooke. Thank you.

flounder said...

Nick is the leading lady in his life.

Anonymous said...

I hope that I'm not the leading lady in my life. That might just cause some new issues to surface.

Bone said...

I always have a lot of those "moments" when I watch Dumb & Dumber.