A Spork in the Road

We watched Rachel Getting Married over the weekend, which I liked even better than I expected. The acting was superb, the writing was, with very few exceptions, feather-light and natural. It captured family tensions and longings and love with beautiful, painful clarity.

One of my favorite moments in the film was during the post-wedding party, when the camera captured Kym (Anne Hathaway) standing amidst the music and dancing looking dazed. There was no big drama, no epiphany, just a visual that looked exactly like I’ve felt numerous times.

So much of art’s function is simply to reassure us that our experience is not unique. That someone else has Been There.