Summer Romance – Old People’s Angst

From the teenage angst of Titanic to the adult angst of When Harry Met Sally to the marriage angst of Casablanca and Brokeback Mountain, we’ve been looking at summer romance films with an eye toward you writing a script in the summer romance genre. But in recent years there’s another romance category that’s popping up—I’d call it old people’s angst. Generally, it involves a widow/widower or a divorced person who has lost their spouse and thinks that’s it, their romantic life is over. But we know a part of them desperately wants romance in their life, hence the angst.

In trying to decide what film to offer up as a classic example, I looked at lists from various sites of ‘older people romance’ or something similar in the movies, and guess what I found? The Holiday [2006] by Nancy Meyers topped a lot of lists. This is a film about two women, one from suburban London and one from Los Angeles, who exchange houses at Christmas and find romance after they’ve both been burned by bad relationships. It’s a fun film, I actually like it a lot, but ‘older people’??? These characters are in their 40s! When did finding romance in your 40s put you in the ‘older people’ category?

So to draw some lines in the sand here, I’m talking about films about people who are 60 [or close] and above. I think with the baby boomer generation heading into their geriatric years, this category of romance has terrific potential. Two films released in the last year, one a comedy and the other a straight drama, show this genre bursting forth—The Book Club [2018] by Bill Holderman and Erin Simms, and Our Souls at Night [2017] by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.

But for an in-depth look at this genre, let’s look at two more films by Nancy Myers.

Something’s Got to Give [2003] centers on Erica Berry—a successful writer who is definitely not looking for romance…thinking there’s no chance. When her daughter’s boyfriend Harry, who is in his 60s and thus decades older than Erica’s daughter, has a heart attack at Erica’s house, Erica is forced to care for him… and romance is the ultimate result. But along the way she has the chance to be romanced by a man 20 years her junior—so she goes from lamenting her sorry love life to being pulled in two directions at the same time.

Nancy Myers’ 2009 film It’s Complicated also told a tale of romance between three older people in their 60s. The film centers on divorced Jane, who is appalled by her ex’s marriage to a woman half his age, who finds herself falling into a relationship with the architect remodeling her kitchen… only to fall back in bed with her ex at their son’s graduation. So she goes from having no romance in her life to having her husband want to come back while this dreamy architect wants a serious relationship with her.

What do all these films about older people falling in love have in common? One theme—it can happen. The idea that being older means romance is a thing of the past is dead—these films tell the moviegoer that it’s still possible, love is out there if you just let it in. Maybe that’s a simplistic view of the world of dating/romance after 60, but hey, maybe the older generation need to have some fairytales about people their age. And movies—especially romance movies—are about dreams coming true, and that can happen at any age.

Next week we start our romance-writing-boot camp… come join the fun!

Copyright © Diane Lake

29Jul18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com