I watched “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” finally on Sunday and it was … ok. It wasn’t bad because the scenery and the filming was great. Nicolas Cage’s fake Italian accent was at first getting on my nerves, but I got used to it after awhile.
There was a speech in the middle of the film that caught my attention though, where the father is talking to the daughter about whether or not she loves the local Greek boy she is engaged to or if she loves Capt. Corelli. I just had to write it down, and here it is:
When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots become so entwined together that it becomes inconceivable that you should ever part. Because, this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No. Don’t blush. I’m telling you some truths. That is just being in love, which any of us can convince ourselves that we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away. It doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is.
16 replies on “Love Is…”
Wow, that’s absolutely beautiful! I’m going to write that down in my quote notebook. Thanks for sharing.
wow. that’s absolutely my new favorite quote. so beautiful.
and in typical “addicted to the internet” form – i just sent it to J via Y! messenger – heh.
As I always said…the first part is the sexual attraction but love comes much more slowly. Remember our eternal debate about if “love at first sight” existed???
that is an amazing quote. i too am going to copy it down. thanx.
That is beautiful… i love love-quotes like that 🙂
(I’m sorry, I had to giggle when you said you wrote it down because for a second, I was picturing you in a movie theatre in the dark with a piece of paper and pen in your hand trying to transcribe the scene 😉 LOL, obviously the movie must be out on video now… don’t mind me, I’m a sleepy head who is on her way back to bed :giggle: )
Gosh, that’s so beautiful and so true!
Thank you for sharing that! Such a wonderfully written speech.
Happy Holidays!
Lovely quote. Happy Holidays.
Beautiful and true, and deserving of being taken notice of — thanks for posting it!
Oh, I have said for many years now that “love” at first sight doesn’t exist. You might be immediately attracted to them. You might have “the vibe” that they are someone special. But a love that will last takes time to grow. I also learned that love means acceptance – no one is perfect – and the willingness to forgive each other’s faults. If you expect or demand perfection then you will be disappointed. (This has been a hard lesson for me to learn and it took a long time, but I can appreciate it much more now than I could have 10 years ago.)
so very true. after the “heat” of initially falling in love, that’s when it becomes interesting and even more exciting. that’s when life starts.
have a great holiday 🙂
It’s funny, I’ve just watched that very film, and that same monologue jumped out at me.
It’s true what he says though. Love is what lasts. It might not be the first heat of burning passion, it might not be the that wonderful feeling when every touch is new – but it’s a new kind of wonderful.
Nobody is perfect, and love isn’t all smooth sailing – but what it is, is the willingness to hang on through the stormy seas, and to bend with the winds, and that moment, in the calm before, during or after the storm, when you realise that you are safe and secure – and that is truly something to be cherished.
Very nice quote. I like it when movies are willing to admit the truth with great quotes like that … so often it’s easy to “fall in love” with the movies that are just about falling in love. 🙂 The greatest stories are those about the love afterwards, though.
ok, the movie wasn’t very good, but the book that it was based on is excellent.In particular, the line that you quoted is from the original text, but is a bit longer, a bit more eloquent. Some friends of mine had it read at their wedding.
So I guess if you liked that part of the movie you should check out the book.
The gifts we give, and get
But the interesting thing is that love and trust from someone else allows you to love and trust yourself more – it’s like a renewable resource.
You just helped me out – when my wife and I got married in 2001, we chose those lines as one of our readings as it touched us as well. We’ve just moved into our first house and we’re going to stick that up somewhere, so I was looking for a copy. Even after three years of marriage we still have our fair share of breathlessness and excitement but it’s a good one to remember for the future!