Hello Hive friends and movie lovers! I hope you're having a lovely day. Recently, after a long time, I rewatched "500 Days of Summer", a movie that captivated me from the first time I saw it due to its unique way of telling a love story, exposing realities often explored in cinema but with its own particular touch and without much pretension.
"500 Days of Summer", directed by Marc Webb, is a romantic comedy that follows Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young man with a mediocre job who falls hopelessly in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Through a non-linear narrative, the film shows us the highs and lows of their relationship over 500 days.
I remember identifying quite a lot with Tom when I first saw the movie. Despite not being a cliché film, it knows how to use them in an attractive and moving way. On one hand, we have Tom, someone with a good but quite mediocre life, whose existence is revolutionized by Summer's arrival at his workplace.
Tom's confused feelings are purely real and contradictory. Tom experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, hiding the reality of his situation behind his desires and expectations. The movie constantly asks us the question: What is love? The meaning of love is presented repeatedly, starting with the metaphor of Summer's black hair, her most valuable possession, but which she cuts off without concern, knowing it will grow back. Tom, on the other hand, clings to a concept of love influenced by destiny and the existence of soulmates.
Despite Summer's repeated claims that she wasn't looking for anything serious, she's in a constant search for someone who will change that idea. Tom and Summer have very different perspectives on love: Tom, clinging to his ideal, and Summer, to her search. Summer hates definitions and denies love due to her experiences, while Tom idealizes it, leading their relationship to an inevitable fate from the start.
Throughout the movie, both characters grow and learn about the true meaning of love. Summer pushes Tom to pursue his dreams of becoming an architect, and Tom learns that love is much more complex than the events he calls destiny. He learns to let go and move on.
"500 Days of Summer" is not a love story, but a story about love and how it can change perspectives throughout our lives. It's a collection of experiences where we identify with one or the other character, depending on our own experiences. At different stages of our lives, we will side with either Tom or Summer.
Tom believed he wouldn't be happy until he found the right girl, idealizing Summer despite her warnings that she didn't want anything serious. In the end, their relationship fails, and Tom seems like the good guy who gave everything for someone who didn't reciprocate. However, the movie shows us Tom's mistake: idealizing Summer to the point of emotionally depending on her.
Summer was Tom's catalyst, a perfect woman for him. However, she is the antithesis of love for Tom, someone who doesn't exist to be a secondary character in anyone's life. Summer was on her own journey of self-discovery.
Both make mistakes and hit rock bottom, but the real lesson of the movie is to learn to love complex people in different stages of their personal journey, to let go, and to improve with each person who passes through our lives. Tom can't expect his happiness to depend on an idealized girl. But Tom isn't the villain; he simply has his own concept of love, and Summer is his lesson. Both complement each other in the chaos of their relationship and contribute to the new direction of their lives.
The movie teaches us that love can hurt us, and life will make us learn from our mistakes. In love, there are no heroes or villains, only stories intertwined with different conceptions of what love is. It's okay to make mistakes; we must fight for the dreams that make us happy while keeping our feet on the ground, remembering that after Summer always comes Autumn.
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Poster obtained from Filmaffinity.
Trailer obtained from the official YouTube page of the movie.
Scenes obtained from IMDb.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I apologize if there are any grammatical errors, English is not my native language, I have tried to be as careful as possible.
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