Falling in Love (1984)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I liked this movie very much, and it was especially nice to watch it in Christmas time, as it showed New York in lavish Christmas decorations. Complete with the famous skating rink and all! :-) I also liked that although the ending was very foreseeable, this is Hollywood after all, this was not evident until - well, the ending! This movie is rather like "Brief Encounter" from the 1940:s. The same story about two people, already married, meeting by chance at a train/train station, and falling in love against their will. Also: in both movies, the couple get a chance to have sex, but they never do it. By the way, I find the fact that they do NOT have sex much more romantic than if they had. It shows that we have to do with basically decent people caught up in an unhappy situation - and because of this it is easier to sympathize with them."Brief encounter" ended unhappily though. Although the men in both movies got a job far away and moved, to put an end to the hopeless relation-that-must-not-be, in the old movie he never came back and - we must presume - the lovers never met again. I suppose everything else would have been impossible in the 1940:s, but in the 1980:s divorce was not such a bad thing anymore, and the movie-makers could allow the illicit couple to get together in the end.I suppose this kind of story is many bored, married women's fantasy... You are bored with your husband, but there are no "real" problems that would make it "legitimate" to leave him. Also - where would you go, what would you do..? Maybe you would just turn up lonely, unhappy and poor.Although you are in mature age, you have still not quite forgotten that dream about the prince on the white horse, who are coming to save you... maybe this is still not too late, although you are 35, 40, 45, 50..? But you do not want to go out and look for a new man deliberately, because that would be too cheap and trashy. And you would not want a man who was willing to do that to HIS spouse either - because a man like that would not be worth the degree of love and passion you dream of. Therefore you want it to happen as in these movies (and many more like them): by chance, against your conscious will - so that you can continue to look upon yourself - and him - as the decent people in the movies...

If you believe this is wrong, I totally agree with you but DeNiro and Streep will force you in this movie to re-think the whole thing only if the story is like theirs.The movie starts with DeNiro not believing that one of his friends is capable of cheating on his wife and divorcing her to marry someone else! Only to find himself in his friend's shoes later! It's a very simple and honest story about the fact that no matter what you do and how hard you try, you don't control feelings they actually do control you! There are two scenes that will truly make you think and think. The scene when DeNiro tells his wife that he loves someone else and she slaps him on the face. He does nothing for what he can do! Seriously, what can be done?! If your partner comes to tell you that he/she is not in love with you anymore and that he/she is in love with someone else! What can you do? Can you force him/her to love you back?! And the second scene is when Streep drives her car hysterically to catch up with DeNiro (oh my God... just oh my God!) You HAVE TO see it.

This movie proves it. Stay single, stay honest and have fun! Why jumping into marriage, then get tired, then cheat, then lie, then make excuse, and make everybody's life miserable and complicated? Look at Frank, look at Ed, look at Molly.Just imagine, if you are forced to eat ham and cheese everyday 3 times a day rest of your life, what would you do? You will go eat from the bin! Just imagine, if you are forced to wear the same sweater everyday rest of your life, you will go out of your mind until you are choked and rip it off to shreds! Marriage is a very wrong concept where two partners are tied up and stuck in a situation like this. Resuls in cheating and divorce. That's the reason, most married people crave to cheat their spouse. Affair adds spice to their boring life. But then again, why saying those words in the first place, "for better or worse, richer and poorer, until death do us apart", when everybody already knows marriage is obviously NOT going to last for ever. Then why going through this hypocrisy? Can you guaranty that some day you will not meet somebody else who you will find more compatible. Human beings fall for temptations, it's their nature.Maryl Streep manages to irritate me in almost all her movies. Can she say a complete sentence properly? It was like she was forgetting her lines from the script or didn't read her lines or something! And what's with the over-sized dresses and jackets, like 5 size larger than her actual size? Frank's wife is lovely, but Molly's husband looks like a homeless bum. Molly deserved better. On the other hand, what did Frank lack in his married life? Somebody please tell me that. So he cheated just for fun? for a change? This movie makes us ponder about hypocrisy, honesty, faith and temptations.

I am a hopeless romantic. Maybe that is why I fall in love with the movie characters so easily. It does not necessarily have to be between a man and a woman. It can be between any 2 persons. Father and daughter, brother & sister or what have you.I saw the movie almost 20 years ago on a trans Atlantic flight. May be I am confusing this with another movie but if my memory serves me right, in the end Robert DeNero & Meryl Streep just missed each other at the store & it really broke my heart. I have been trying to lay my hands on it for watching it again for all these years.Just laid my hand on the DVD a couple of days back. The final minute of the movie made my day.In my opinion and what I have always believed is that true love does not necessarily involve sex. It is simply wanting to be close to someone and not seeing but simply accepting the other person as a human as they are.Believe me I will be watching this one at least a few times every year.I would place this as one of my all time favorite love story right along side of Notting Hill & Pretty Woman.