Going to the Pictures

Heather and I went to see the film 'Julie and Julia' today. Heather told me off because as we entered the cinema foyer I said, 'Ooh, I haven't been to the pictures in ages.' Which is true, because I haven't. But apparently, no-one calls it 'going to the pictures' these days. I didn't like to ask what the film-going experience is called now in case it was something appalling that offended my English Literature graduate sensibilities, like 'checkin' on da flick house'.

And then I got told off for paying for the de luxe seats.
'Faux pas, Mum,' said Heather.
'Why?' I said. 'I have a wide bottom. I want a wide seat in which to place it.'
'Because there will be no-one else in the screening,' said Heather. 'So we could have started in the ordinary seats and moved into the deluxe seats when the film started.'

Apparently. no-one bothers to check if you are sitting in the right seats at a mid-day showing on a Friday when the schools are in term.

Well, I would have felt guilty if I'd have indulged in this seat-swapping deceit so I decided the extra 50p a seat I paid was money well spent for a clear conscience.

As it was there were 3 other people in the cinema with us. And for all I knew, one of them could have been an undercover cinema seat ticket inspector ready to pounce.
'Your ticket says standard, you are sitting in deluxe,' they might have said. 'Please pay the extra 50p or move.' Which would have been highly embarrassing in front of the other 2 people there.

Anyway, the film was very entertaining. I didn't nod off once, unlike the last time I went 'to the pictures.' I can't even remember what the film was I fell asleep to. I think it had penguins in it. But 'Julie and Julia' proved to be a feel-good film and confirmed my belief that Meryl Streep is my all-time favourite actress. Someone in the writing group I joined reckons I look like Meryl Streep. They don't wear glasses, as far as I am aware. Perhaps they should.

The film, without giving away the plot and subtle nuances of character and friendship analysis, is about an American woman who learned how to cook French food and then taught other American women to cook French food, and then another American woman, forty years later, who wrote a blog about cooking every one of the first woman's recipes in the French cookery book she wrote forty years previously. Inside a year. It was also about being a writer.

In some ways, the whole blogging and getting published subtext was slightly irksome to someone who is a writer who is blogging and trying to get published. But in many, many more ways, the characters were inspirational in their determination, their femininity, their quirkiness, their passion and their individuality. It got me thinking about whether I possessed these qualities myself in large enough doses that I could do something like they did. ('Julie and Julia' is based on a true story with real people.) And then I thought, 'Will I ever experience that happy co-incidence that lands me in the elusive 'right place at the right time?' (It happens in the film, but I don't want to spoil your enjoyment by telling you how if you decide to pay a visit to 'the pictures' yourself.)

Of course, it doesn't matter one way or the other really, because I enjoy writing and won't ever not write. But going to see a film that makes you think in a positive manner is a good way to spend a couple of hours.

All I need to do is discover my Unique Selling Point. To think of something that no-one else has ever done before, that I could do and then write about in a unique voice.

Suggestions, anyone??