Movie: Stardust

Watched Stardust Friday night when FruggieChick and Sinister were over for dinner. The film is based on the book, which is based on the graphic novel, both written by Neil Gaiman (best author ever! Go, read his books, right now!). The film starred Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, and Michelle Pheiffer, and Ian McKellen as the Narrator. Fabulous film! So much fun.

Tristan sets out to collect a fallen star to give to Victoria as proof of his love. He finds that the star is actually a woman named Yvaine. Adventure ensues - witches, pirates, goats, and dead princes abound. And along the way, guess what? Tristan and Yvaine fall in love. It is classic fantasy, classic fairy tale, with a few twists along the way.

Yvaine asks at one point why Tristan came to collec the fallen star. Tristan says that it is to prove his love to Victoria. Yvaine asks what Victoria is doing to prove her love for him. It is a valid question.

Why should I strive so hard in a relationship to prove myself? My realtionship with Dipshit is a classic example. I bent over backwards to accomodate and please him, yet I never recieved anything in return. Well, I did, but it wasn't anything I wanted. My heartfelt concern and effort was rewarded with a drunken fight (him drunk, not me) that ended with me having a bruised rib and him walking 6 miles home in the snow, in full uniform. I chucked his helmet out after him in the front yard.

That was nearly a year and half ago. And it rankled me so that to this day, I don't know who I was when I was in that relationship. I look back on my journals and artwork from that time period, and it seems alien. I did a response piece about a year after the end of the relationship. I had recently found some writings from when we were together, and it made me sick.

The image, besides here, can be found in my portfolio. This is the text of the writings I found that disturbed me so:

I was standing there with the fridge door wide open. He hates when I do this and I could see him out of the corner of my eye, watching. I was trying to decide what to cook. If it was just me, I’d eat rice and cheese…

Into the car, and he’s already lit a cigarette. It would be so much easier without him. But he has to come along, always. I think he’s afraid to be left alone, afraid he will miss something, afraid I won’t come back. I love him for this, this dependency that feeds…

I grab a cart and watch him wander away, idly looking at salad dressings while I judiciously squeeze apples. One, two, four, nine items into the cart. Hamburger and green beans (French cut) and instant potatoes and tomato sauce…

“Do you want a soda?” I ask every time at the checkout. He grabs two, always. Diet Coke and Mountain Dew. It always strikes me as a symbol of us. Conservative and caffeinated. Sensible and destructive. But never both, and never at the same time, and never the same person…

The fight is gone now. His cigarette smoke fills my car and he smiles. I love him, and he loves me. Most days anyway, until the fight is gone…

It was dated February 16, 2007. It was a little over month before the breakup.

Movie stats
IMDB rating: 8 out of 10 stars
GoP rating: 9 out of 10 stars, why did you not see this already?
Pairing: Tristan and Yvaine, Dunstan and Una