And are. As I stare out the window with my fingers glueing more and more to the keyboard, I try to find a way of putting this fine feeling I have on paper. The heart skips a beat. Again. And again. Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford created in The Way We Were the kind of love we all dream about and then learn to just let it be.
The. Heart. Skips. A. Beat. Luckily, their style is forever. Might this be the reason behind my fondness of style, fond of anything that is forever? Now the cynics might say that nothing is, in fact, forever. Well, Let It Be is, ooh wee!
The pictures one can find on the internet don’t even come close to the effect one can sense when, actually, watching the two actors perform in Sydney Pollack’s 1973 film. While their charisma is, obviously, a major part of the way they were, their style makes us all dream of a way to be. And I only mean style because I must certainly let their love just be and dream of a forever love. Like I always have. Not of love forever.
There will always be people saying that it’s impossible, but there, here, everywhere, will, also, always be people who make the impossible wonderfully possible. You may say that I am a dreamer, but I’m not the only one, ooh wee.
Simplicity at its best. Engaged body language even when not engaged.
Off white and jeans are almost as sweet together as Robert Redford’s embrace of Barbra Streisand reading in his cardigan is. And all these on a beach close to their home. I mean…
Charming. Her all feminine, him in his uniform.
Elegant in white dress with white earrings. Elegant in herringbone tweed suit, white shirt, cute, dotted tie. The fabrics. The textures. The gestures. THEIR HAIR!
The volume of their hats and clothes is almost as loud as their gaze is.
Authentically strong. The clothes are so different, yet… are not.
Oh, sexy complicity.
The world seems to stop when they talk to each other.
Having fun is always the s*it!
And again. (!)
THEIR HAIR. (!)
Their flow and Barbra Streisand’s nails throughout the movie. They make you want to go have a long bath and get out of it as Barbra Streisand.
An ex-boyfriend, annoyingly almost, once told me: Jees, these movies and music really did something to you as I was, enthusiastically, pointing out some super cheesy, almost unnoticeable shmoosh woosh while watching a maybe not even that romantic movie. I was just making sure he sees it, too. He hadn’t, hence his aforementioned statement. I guess I’ve always dreamed about that shmoosh woosh and then, when you see it in a movie, it’s like half of the dream comes true. You knew. Don’t say it’s a movie, you, too.
Yes, it is aching as f*ck at times, excruciating, makes you even wonder whether you still have a heart or not, but magical all the time. When we just let it be and then ooh wee! The. Heart. Skips. A. Beat.
Note: I have a photograph of my parents taken shortly after my mother had given birth to me. They resemble of the way Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford were, they’re laying in the grass, my mom in my dad’s arms, and they’re so soulfully laughing that it always reminds me that it, really, is indeed wonderfully possible.