He Loved The Words More Than He Loved The Muse
Sep 9 2012
The movie The Words is unusual for a mainstream movie. I was surprised it was showing at the biggest theater in our area instead of at the local independent, artsy theater. I found it thought provoking and intriguing from a “wannabe writer” point-of-view. I muse on this blog and at one point I had aspirations to write a book. Two books actually…one fiction and one based on real people’s stories. I “finished” 1/16 of both of them. The attempt at the non-fiction book resulted in the articles on my Success Profiles page. Life, work, children, self imposed limitations, and personalities got/get in the way of completing them as they do for so many who have lofty writing aspirations.
Many aspects of The Words were intriguing, from the handsome, young writer (Bradley Cooper) married to a beautiful, dark-skinned, seemingly unemployed woman (Zoe Saldana) to his stealing someone else’s words because his own were insufficient to break the New York publishing barrier.
One line that struck me went something like “He loved the words more than he loved the muse who inspired him to write them.” My handful of past and present muses (places & people) have triggered words (prose & poetry) that I never knew were inside of me yet found their way often uncontrollably into some of my writing. I found that most of those muses, including my children, I love or loved more than the words. If a place served as a muse, I then loved the words more because they were about the people I loved.
The movie left you hanging because it ends without resolution on what was real and what was fiction. The older version (Dennis Quaid) of the young, handsome writer has telling flashbacks. However, the observer is left to come up with her own conclusion as to whether the author’s life, the author’s characters, or his stories were real or fiction. According to the older writer, fiction must never be confused with reality…
Author: Aruni | Filed under: movie reviews | Tags: bradley cooper, dennis quaid, famous writers, the words, zoe saldana | 3 Comments »
“The only difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.”
–Tom Clancy
@jeteye – That Tom Clancy quote goes along with the saying “truth is stranger than fiction.”
@Darcy – Bradley Cooper was a great actor, and he seems to have found himself at the right places at the right times!
A) I love the Tom Clancy quote that Jeteye has posted above me!
B) I’m thrilled to see Bradley Cooper being used like this in a film. I understand that he shot to fame in ‘The Hangover’ but even in the film ‘Limitless’ he showed that he had the potential to play a character with a little more depth. It looks as if this previously underrated actor may just be on the verge of breaking through to legit all-star, bona fide status!