Review Detail
9.1 3 10
(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Enjoyment
10.0
August 5, 2009
The idea of this fan edit caught my attention immediately. I had not seen the original in many years, probably since it first came out in 1993. But it was not a movie I would have watched more than once, in its original form. And that is why I like the Divorce Edition.
I thought that it was very well done. The edits were smooth, the sound and music flawless. I liked the black and white more than I thought I would. It really helped to hide some of the colors and patterns that date the original movie.
The ending is somber, but that was the point, wasn’t it? Life is often somber, and there are not always happy endings. Happy endings are predictable, clichéd and not realistic. The way TV and movies are today, most everything has a happy ending. These days, when a movie starts, even when there is conflict, pain, anger… you know that 95% or more of the time it will all be resolved in the end. There may be sadness, but in general it will also be happy. Because that is what the masses want. But personally, I like realism. When everything you see on TV is perfect people with perfect lives, it does not make me feel better. Why do I want other people to have perfect lives when I do not? Seeing that doesn’t make me feel better about myself. I want real emotion, real reaction. In real life, I do not believe that Diana and David would have been able to stay together. Firstly, they did not seem that devoted in the beginning of the movie, and secondly, she was attracted to John Gage. Whether they should’ve made the decision for Diana to spend the night with Gage is almost irrelevant. Right or wrong, the choice was made, and we all have to live with the choices we make. David was right to do what was right for him in the end. He needed to.
I recommend this version to anyone who believes that Hollywood happy endings are overdone. This movie is still hopeful, despite the ending. Rather than have a married couple continue to be married but at least half be unhappy or resentful or sorrowful, you have David, who can now move on with his life, and Diana, who can continue whatever it is she is doing with Gage, and have the money and the life that she thinks she wants.
The idea of this fan edit caught my attention immediately. I had not seen the original in many years, probably since it first came out in 1993. But it was not a movie I would have watched more than once, in its original form. And that is why I like the Divorce Edition.
I thought that it was very well done. The edits were smooth, the sound and music flawless. I liked the black and white more than I thought I would. It really helped to hide some of the colors and patterns that date the original movie.
The ending is somber, but that was the point, wasn’t it? Life is often somber, and there are not always happy endings. Happy endings are predictable, clichéd and not realistic. The way TV and movies are today, most everything has a happy ending. These days, when a movie starts, even when there is conflict, pain, anger… you know that 95% or more of the time it will all be resolved in the end. There may be sadness, but in general it will also be happy. Because that is what the masses want. But personally, I like realism. When everything you see on TV is perfect people with perfect lives, it does not make me feel better. Why do I want other people to have perfect lives when I do not? Seeing that doesn’t make me feel better about myself. I want real emotion, real reaction. In real life, I do not believe that Diana and David would have been able to stay together. Firstly, they did not seem that devoted in the beginning of the movie, and secondly, she was attracted to John Gage. Whether they should’ve made the decision for Diana to spend the night with Gage is almost irrelevant. Right or wrong, the choice was made, and we all have to live with the choices we make. David was right to do what was right for him in the end. He needed to.
I recommend this version to anyone who believes that Hollywood happy endings are overdone. This movie is still hopeful, despite the ending. Rather than have a married couple continue to be married but at least half be unhappy or resentful or sorrowful, you have David, who can now move on with his life, and Diana, who can continue whatever it is she is doing with Gage, and have the money and the life that she thinks she wants.
H