Alfred Lord Tennyson & "Old Fashioned"

Friendships are investments in our emotional future. The investment is other-centered, drawing the dividend of love. Without that investment there is no intimacy.

It’s exactly like Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote: “Love is the only gold.”

In the film "Old Fashioned" Amber (the female lead) has this quote cut out and prominently pinned on her bulletin board. She explains to Clay (the male lead) how she came across the quote to begin with. During a football game. She was in the high school marching band, the game "wasn't even close," so in-between routines on the field, she caught up on homework. Which included reading that line from Tennyson.

"Old Fashioned" charts the course of their meeting  from when Amber pulls in to town because of an empty gas tank and winds up renting the apartment above Clay's antique shop. Because of guilt over his past, Clay is very reserved around women to the point of almost hiding up in his home, refusing to date.

He has theories about how relationships should go; while Amber is a free-spirited breath of fresh air that Providence has brought into his life to set him free. On the other hand, Clay helps Amber realize that there's an alternative to leaving town when relationships don't pan out (she's lived in 14 states). He helps her realize the value of commitment.

As the storyline of the film unfolds love takes its course, with opportunity for both Clay and Amber to rethink how they relate to each other and to God. And there's a moment of repentance and redemption for both of them.

"Old Fashioned" is refreshingly honest in its approach. For instance, there's a scene in which Amber expresses her frustration with Clay's inability to break out of his rule-based view of things and emotionally relate to her. She tells him: "Why are you so hard on everybody? Most of us are just doing our best not to be lonely." 

When was the last time you saw a romantic comedy expressing that truth?

Thank you Rik Swartzwelder (who wrote, directed and starred in "Old Fashioned") for giving us this gem of a film that reminds us, as Tennyson said so many years ago, that "love is (indeed) the only gold."

If you haven't seen "Old Fashioned" yet, please do yourself a favor and check out the trailer. The film is available on DVD. 

Old Fashioned Trailer

photocredit: www.meetville.com