《西雅图不眠之夜》电影英语教案

《西雅图不眠之夜》电影英语教案 Unit 13 Sleepless in Seattle (西雅图不眠之夜) I. Understanding the Movie 1. Background Information (1) 自远古时期就居住在北美地区的印地安人，靠着打猎和捕鱼维生，在深山林野中过 着自给自足的部落生活，他们就是这儿的原住民，只不过他们的历史并没有 记录 混凝土 养护记录下载土方回填监理旁站记录免费下载集备记录下载集备记录下载集备记录下载 在美国通史 里。西雅图的拓荒者们，尊重这群长久居住在艾略特湾(Elliott Bay)一带的度瓦米许 (Duwamish)原住民族，就直接将这块移民地的新生地命名为酋长席尔斯(Sealth)的名字，这 中间因为一些口语误传，最后便成为Seattle，这就是西雅图市名的由来。 这里不是威尼斯，但处处可以见到蓝湖汪洋;这里不是赌城，却可以作着淘金的美梦; 这里不是巴黎香榭大道，那咖啡飘香浪漫的气氛却丝毫不减;这里正是美国西北最热闹的城 市?西雅图。 想到西雅图这个城市，除了浪漫，实在也找不出更适合的字眼来形容它。曾经因为电影 「西雅图夜未眠」而声名大噪的浪漫形象，并没有被当作是观光的号召，在市区也找不到相 关的产品或是电影海报的图像标志。但是，西雅图所散发出来的气息还是脱离不开浪漫的味 道，那是一股自然的呈现，没有经过媒体包装，也没有刻意炒作的商业文化。 (2) 在美国好莱坞电影森林中，大制作大投入的影片是极卖座的，也因此数量最多。但 其中，也不凡一些非常纯情温柔的浪漫爱情片。这种影片更贴近生活，而且很能满足观众心 理需求，市场潜力十分巨大，《西雅图夜未眠》就在当年百部最卖座影片中名列第七。 《西雅图夜未眠》讲述的是一个丧妻的男子久久沉浸在痛苦中，在他的小儿子的帮助下 通过全国广播的谈心节目在茫茫人海中找到了自己的新的伴侣。这个故事十分浪漫，甚至有 距离现实的色彩，然而，贯穿影片中的那一股淡淡的哀愁，一丝浅浅的温柔，那无穷无尽的 爱意，却使观众能完全沉浸在影片所营造的气氛中，为主人公或悲或喜，当影片结尾父子两 人离开帝国大厦而安妮面对着寂静而 空无一人的顶层， 观众无一不被感动，为他们的错过 而伤感，但接着柳暗花明，儿子又带着父亲回来了，两个有缘人终于见了面，观众这才舒了 口气，可谓真是缘份啊。 在现实社会中，丧失配偶的人不在少数，离婚独居的更不在话下。因此，影片切中实际， 反映了一个丧妻男子生命中第二个春天的到来，这无疑能紧紧抓住观众的情感流动。虽然影 片中体现出了相当的幻想色彩，但观众依然愿意去相信它是真实的。主演汤姆?汉克斯将一 个中年丧妻而郁郁寡欢，对儿子充满爱意的成熟男子的性格角色展现得淋漓尽致。他仿佛在 过着自己的生活，而不是演戏。为此，他获得了观众们的一致赞誉。 2. Synopsis Sleepless in Seattle is a love story -- a story about two people who clearly are meant for each other: they are destined to meet and fall in love.They are separated by distance. The chance that they will ever meet is remote. The excitement and suspense in the movie depends on our knowing that this is so, and seeing the events, and mishaps, and misunderstandings, that eventually bring them together. The lovers are Annie Reed and Sam Baldwin. Annie is a journalist on the Baltimore Sun. At the start, she is already safely engaged to Walter, a very suitable husband despite being allergic to everything. However, there are hints for Annie that something is missing. She believes she is in love with Walter, but she has a sense that her engagement lacks magic, mystery and destiny. Sam is an architect. His former marriage was happy, and he is still mourning his wife who died from cancer a year ago. He and his eight-year- old son Jonah move from Chicago to rainy Seattle in an attempt to escape the memories and start a new life. Jonah knows his father needs a wife, and he needs a mother. Jonah takes the fu'st crucial step between Sam and Annie. He listens to a radio talk show which is very popular in America. In this show, listeners are invited to telephone a presenter who is a psychologist usually. And the listener who phones in the show will receive impartial and sympathetic response or advice from the presenter. He needn't give his real name. He can be identified by a suitable pseudonym, or nickname. The name by which Sam is known -- Sleepless in Seattle -- gives the name to the movie. Jonah cajoles his father to talk to the presenter, Dr. Marcia. Sam reluctantly at lust opens up and talks about his love for his dead wife and the things that made her special. The immediate consequence is that Sam, to his embarrassment, gets letters (forwarded fromthe broadcasting company) from women looking for husbands from all over America! He has indeed met a woman, but since she has a laugh that resembles a hyena's call, the son doesn't like her. The other consequence is that Annie becomes convinced that Sam is her destiny and she is willing to risk her engagement for him. She has access to variety of databases on her computer so that she can get the information about Sam (This is one of the earliest movies in which the part played by information technology is crucial). She writes to him and eventually flies to Seattle. However, she roms back disappointedly after she sees Sam hug a woman and his son, Jonah. Jonah reads Annie's letter and believes that she is the one who can fill the void in his father's life. But Sam is reluctant to involve himseff with an unknown woman 3 000 miles away. Jonah connives to bring about a meeting of Annie and his father on St. Valentine's Day in New York on the top of the Empire State Building. That is a traditional meeting place and time for lovers -- the time and place chosen by the lovers in a classic movie An Affair to Remember. Jonah is convinced that Sam must be there too, at that place and at that time. But Sam refuses to undertake such an absurd quest. Jonah himself makes the long journey, knowing that at that time and place he will meet the person who shall be his mother. The little boy flies to New York alone. As darkness falls, the distraught father hurries to the building and finds his boy. Meanwhile, Walter and Annie meet in a restaurant opposite the Empire State Building. Walter presents Annie with a beautiful ring that has once been his mothers. Annie tells Walter what she experiences and feels. At last she breaks off the engagement. Of course, Annie meets Sam and Jonah on the top of the building. The perfect magic love makes them together. II. Excerpts from the Movie Excerpt 1 (Dr. Marcia Feildstone's phone-in program on National Radio——You and Your Emotions.) DR. MARCIA: Welcome back to "You and Your Emotions". I'm Dr. Marcia Feildstone, broadcasting live across America from the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Tonight, we're talking about "Wishes and Dreams" .What's your wish this Christmas Eve? ANNIE: What's your wish? My wish is to mm the radio station... DR. MARCIA: Seattle, go ahead. JONAH: Hello, this is Jonah... DR.MARCIA: No last names, Jonah. You sound younger than our usual callers. How old are you? JONAH: I'm eight. DR. MARCIA: Hey, how come you're up so late? JONAH: It's not that late in Seattle. DR. MARCIA: Oh, of course. You're absolutely right. What's your Christmas wish, Jonah? JONAH: It's not for me. It's for my dad. I think he needs a new wife. DR. MARCIA: You don't like the one he has now? JONAH: He doesn't have one now. That's the problem. DR. MARCIA: Where's your mom? JONAH: She died. DR. MARCIA: I'm so sorry to hear that. ANNIE: Well, I can believe this. JONAH: I've been pretty sad, but I think my dad's worse. DR. MARCIA: Have you talked to your dad about this? JONAH: No. DR. MARCIA: Why not? JONAH: It's like it makes him sadder. DR. MARCIA: Well, I can understand that. Jonah, is your dad home right now? JONAH: Yeah. DR. MARCIA: What's he doing? Is he busy? JONAH: Not really. He's out on the deck. DR. MARCIA: Well, I'm sure that I can help, but I'm going to need you to help me help him. ANNIE: Wretched woman! DR. MARCIA: ...so bring your dad to the phone. ANNIE: Hang up, Jonah! Don't listen to her! JONAH: No way! He'd kill me! DR. MARCIA: Trust me, Jonah. He won't be angry when he realizes how concerned you are about him. ANNIE: Wanna bet? JONAH: OK', but if I get yelled at, I'm never going to listen to your show again. DR. MARCIA: Alright. Fair enough. JONAH: Dad! SAM: Yeah? JONAH: There is someone on the phone for you... His name is Sam. DR. MARCIA: Sam. If you've just tuned in, this is Dr. Marcia Fieldstone and tonight's topic is "Your Wishes and Dreams" and we're on the line now with someone from Seattle. SAM: Hello? DR. MARCIA: Hello, Sam. This is Dr. Marcia Fieldstone on Network America. SAM: OK, what are you selling tonight? The micro hibachis or the ginsu knives? DR. MARCIA: No, I'm not selling anything. I just want to help. I want you to know that your son called and he asked me for some advice on how you might find a new wife. SAM: Who is this? DR. MARCIA: Dr. Marcia Fieldstone of Network America and you are on the air. SAM: You called the radio station? DR. MARCIA: Sam, S. am, Sam, are you with me? SAM: Yeah, yes. DR. MARCIA: Your son feels that since your wife's death, you've been very very unhappy and he's genuinely worried about you. SAM: Hey, get out here. Get out here! Come on. Now I'm not going to go through this alone. DR. MARCIA: I think it's very hard for him to talk to you about all this. And I thought maybe you and I could talk, maybe it would make Jonah feel a little better, Sam? JONAH: Talk to her, Dad. She is a doctor. SAM: Of what? Her first name could be "Doctor". JONAH: Please. DR. MARCIA: Sam, Sam, it's his Christmas wish. SAM: OK. DR. MARCIA: OK. Good. Now I know this is difficult, but how long ago did your wife die? SAM: About a year and a half ago. DR. MARCIA: Have youhad any relationships since? SAM: No. DR. MARCIA: No? Why not? SAM: Ah, Marcia, I should call you Dr. Fieldstone... DR. MARCIA: Dr. Marcia. SAM &. ANNIE: Dr. Marcia. SAM: I don't mean to be rude... DR. MARCIA: ...and I don't want to invade your privacy. SAM &. ANNIE: Sure you do. DR. MARCIA: Go on, Sam. I'm listening. Sam? SAM: We had pretty tough time there at first, but we're dealing with it and Jonah and I will get along just fine again, as soon as I break his radio. DR. MARCIA: I have no doubt that you're a wonderful father. You know, you can tell a lot from a person's voice. SAM: You certainly can. DR. MARCIA: But something must be missing if Jonah still feels that you're under a cloud. Now just a few questions: Are you sleeping at night? JONAH: He doesn't sleep at all. SAM: How do you know that? JONAH: I live here, Dad. SAM: Look, it's Christmas. Maggie, my wife, she really...I mean, she loved...she made everything beautiful. It's just tough this time of year. Any kid needs a mother. DR. MARCIA: Could it be that you need someone just as much as Jonah does? ANNIE: Yes. DR. MARCIA: Don't answer that. Let's get into that right after these messages. Sam? Jonah? Don't go away. ff you've just tuned in, we're talking to "Sleepless in Seattle". And we'll be right back after this break, with your listener response. SAM: What is she talking about? JONAH: This is when other people get to call in and dump on what you said. SAM: Oh. Oh. This is really fun, and helpful. DR. MARCIA: Let's take a call before we get back to "Sleepless in Seattle." Knoxville, Tennessee, you're on the air. Talk to me. WOMAN: Yes, I would just like to know where I can get this man's address. DR. MARCIA: ... Next caller, go ahead. DR. MARCIA: If there was one question I was allowed to ask... SAM: Oh, go ahead. DR. MARCIA: People who truly loved once are far more likely to love again. Sam, do you think there's someone out there that you could love as much as your wife? SAM: Well, Dr. Marcia Fieldstone. That's hard to imagine. DR. MARCIA: What are you going to do? SAM: Well, I'm going to get out of bed, every morning, and breathe in and out all day long and then after a while, I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed in the morning and breathe in and out and then after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while. DR. MARCIA: Sam, tell me what was so special about your wife? SAM: How long is your program? Well. It was a million tiny little things, and when you add them all up, it just meant that we were supposed to be together. And I knew it. I know it the first time I touched her. It was like coming home, only to no home rd ever known. I was just taking her hand, to help her out of a car, and I knew it. It was like... SAM &. ANNIE: ...magic. DR. MARCIA: Well, folks, it's time to wrap it up. I'm Dr. Marsha Fieldstone in Chicago, and to all my listeners, a magical and merry Christmas. And to you, "Sleepless in Seattle,"we hope you will call again soon and let us know how it's going. SAM: Oh, you can count on it. Excerpt 2 (Annie confides in her brother, Dennis, her doubts about whether she should marry Walter.) ANNIE: Well, I think I'm going crazy, Dennis, I really do. Are you happily married? DENNIS: What? ANNIE: I mean, why did you get married? Was it all trumpets and fireworks and... DENNIS: I got married because Betsy said we had to break up or get married, so we got married. ANNIE: But when you first met her, did you believe that she was the only person for you, that in some mystical, cosmic way, it was fated? DENNIS: Annie, when you are attracted to someone, it just means that your subconscious is attracted to their subconscious, subconsciously. So what we think of as fate is just two neuroses knowing they're a perfect match. ANNIE: I don't even know him. I am having all these fantasies about some man I have never even met who lives in Seattle. DENNIS: It rains nine months of the year in Seattle. ANNIE: I know. I know. I do not want to move to Seattle. But what I really don't want to do is end up always wondering what might have happened and knowing I could have done something. What do you think? It's just cold feet, isn't it? Everybody panics before they get married. I mean, didn't you? DENNIS: Yes, I did. ANNIE: Yes, you did. Thank you very much, Dennis. I feel so much better just having blown this off. DENNIS: Anytime. Excerpt 3 Note: Annie confides her doubts to her friend Becky. ANNIE: Now those were the days when people knew how to be in love. BECKY: You're a basket case. ANNIE: They knew it. Time, distance, nothing could separate them because they knew it was right. It was real. It was... BECKY: ...a movie. That's your problem. You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie. Read it to me. ANNIE: "Dear Sleepless and Son, I have never written a letter like this in my life..." BECKY: That's what everybody writes at the beginning of letters to strangers. ANNIE: I know that. You think I don't know that? BECKY: What about Walter? ANNIE: Walter. Oh, I would give anything to marry Walter. He's so unexpected. You think you can tell by just looking at him, but you can't. I should write something in this about magic. BECKY: What? ANNIE: Something. What if I never meet him? What ff this man is my destiny and I never meet him? BECKY: Your destiny can be your doom. Look at me and Rick. ANNIE: "I want to meet you..." BECKY: ...on the top of Empire State Building, Sunset, Valentine's Day. ANNIE: I'll be in New York with Walter. I can squeeze it in. I'll be in New York with Walter{ BECKY: Do you want to hear about destiny? If I hadn't married Martin, I never would have bought the house with the dead tree, on account of which, I got divorced, on account of which, I hit a car and met Rick while buying a neck brace. ANNIE: Wait a minute. You never told me you got divorced because of a dead tree. BECKY: The tree man. Excerpt 4 (Sam talks with friends about how life imitates movies.) GREG'S WIFE: You saw her in the airport and then here? SAM: And I tried to talk to her. It was like I knew her or something. It was weird. GREG: You mean like a deja vu thing? SAM: It was a very French deja vu-ish kind of thing. Oui. GREG: Oui. At least you are there seeing people again. That's terrific. SAM: Well, I mean, there's really just the one. JONAH: Victoria. GREG'S WIFE: You don't like Victoria. JONAH: She laughs like a hyena. GREG'S WIFE: Is this true? SAM: No...sort of...a little bit. Hey, tell them more what you did. Tell them about the radio show. Go ahead. JONAH: Dad. SAM: Go ahead tell them. Christmas Eve he phones in one of those radio call-in shows and tells them I need a new wife. GREG,S WIFE: Youare kidding. That's so sweet. SAM: Now he is obsessed with this one woman who wrote me. GREG: Are you serious? SAM: Yea, she wants to meet me at the top of the Empire State Building. JONAH: On Valentine's day. GREG'S WIFE: It's like that movie. JONAH: What movie? GREG'S WIFE: "An Affair to Remember." Did you ever see it? Oh, God. Cary Grant and Deborah Carr. Is it Carr or Kerr? SAM & GREG: Kerr. GREG'S WIFE: OK. She is going to meet him at the top of the Empire State Building, only she got hit by a taxi. And he waited, and waited. And it was raining, I think. And then she is too proud to tell him that she is...crippled, and he's too proud to find out why she doesn't come. But he comes to see her anyway. I forgot why, but, oh, oh, it's so amazing when he comes to see her because he doesn't even notice that she doesn't get up to say hello. And he's very bitter. And you think that he's just going to walk out the door, and never know why she's just lying there, you know, on the couch with this blanket over her shriveled little legs... JONAH: Are you alright? GREG: She's fine. GREG'S WIFE: And suddenly, he saw the painting. And he goes to the bedroom and he looks and he comes out and looks at her and he kind of just...and they know, and... SAM: That's a chick's movie. GREG: I would say so. What kind of a person would write to someone they heard on the radio? SAM: I got numbers of letters from women all over the country. GREG: Desperate women. GREG'S WIFE: Just because s6meone is looking for a nice guy who doesn't make them desperate. GREG: How about "rapacious" and "love-starved"? GREG'S WIFE: No. GREG: It is easier to be killed by a terrorist than to fred a husband after the age of 40. GREG'S WIFE: That is absolutely untrue. GREG: Right, honey, right. SAM: I'm not looking for a mall-order bride, rm just looking for someone I can have a docent conversation with over dinner without having it falling down into weepy tears over some movie. GREG: She's very emotional. SAM: Although I cried at the end of The Dirty Dozen. GREG: Well, who didn't? SAM: Jim Brown is throwing these hand grenades down these air shaft and Richard Jaeckel and Lee Marvin were sitting on the top of this armored personal carrier, and they're dressed up like Nazis and Trini L6pez...he busted his neck when they were parachuting down behind Nazi lines. Richards Jaeckel had his shinny helmet because he was the MP. GREG: Please no more. Oh, God! I loved that movie. Excerpt 5 (Waiter's gift of a ring on St. Valentine's Day.) WALTER: Go ahead. ANNIE: No, you go. WALTER: OK, well I was just going to say that ever since Christmas, you've been different, kind of distracted, distant. But now it feels as if you're coming back from where ever you were. ANNIE: I am. I was just...I just got...I think I got nervous. That's normal, right? I mean don't you ever feel nervous about...you know? WALTER: What? ANNIE: Forever. WALTER: No. ANNIE: Well, I did. And you know what I think? I think I thought it was too perfect. You know. I started to wonder if we were the human equivalent of two rights making a wrong. You know what it was? It was like kismet...but not, if you see what I mean. You have to grow up. You just can't keep having all these adolescent fantasies about how exciting your life is going to be. Don't hate me, but I love this pattern. WALTER: You couldn't. ANNIE: I do. WALTER: This is just like my grandmother's china. SALES WOMAN: How many plate settings should I put down? ANNIE &. WALTER: Ten. WALTER: Exactly. Eight is too few. Twelve is too many. ANNIE: Walter! WALTER: It was my mother's. I had them size it down. She had really fat fingers. ANNIE: It's so beautiful. It's exactly what I would pick out if I had every ring in the whole world to choose from. You see what. I mean. There are people who would like a relationship to be full of surprises. But I am not one of those people. No sorry. Surprises are highly over-rated. Excerpt 6 (The parting with Walter.) WALTER: Oh, great table. Is something wrong? WALTER: Can I get you a drink? WALTER: Some champagne. ANNIE: Fine, fine. WALTER: Can we have a bottle of Dom...Delousie. Just kidding. ANNIE: It was jokey. He meant Dom Perignon. WALTER: I got it. WALTER: Beautiful view, isn't it? ANNIE: Walter, there's something I have to tell you. WALTER: So, he could be on top of the Empire State Building now. ANNIE: No...I guess he could be...No, it's not him. Walter, it's me. I can't do this. WALTER: Look, Annie, I love you, but let's leave that out of this. I don't want to be someone that you are settling for. I don't want to be someone that anyone settles for. Marriage is hard enough without bringing such low expectations into it, isn't it.'? ANNIE: Walter, I don't deserve you. WALTER: No, I wouldn't put it that way, but, OK. ANNIE: You OK? WALTER: Yeah. ANNIE: Look! It's a sign. WALTER: Who needed a sign? ANNIE: Walter, I have to go. III. Tasks Task 1. Choose the best answer to each of the questions that follow. 1. The elements of surprise and suspense in this movie come from A. the adventures which the characters experience B. the difficulty of knowing how the story will end C. the fear we share that Jonah may be lost D. the difficulties in the way of a meeting between Annie and Sam 2. Annie, played by Meg Ryan, is employed as A. a fashion model B. a journalist C. a merchant banker D. a computer programmer 3. The story is set in two places, Baltimore and Seattle. This is important because A. Seattle is in the West and Baltimore in the East of North America, several hours of flying time apart B. Seattle and Baltimore are cities in the same part of North America, within an hour of each other by car C. Baltimore and Seattle are suburbs separated by no more than half an hour's travelling time D. Baltimore and Seattle are connected only by radio and telephone 4. Radio talk show offers A. general advice on dilemmas that may be similar to those faced by listeners B. interviews in which well-known people discuss problems they have encountered in the past C. opportunity for listeners to speak to qualified advisers about their problems D. answers by broadcasters to listeners' letters 5. The pseudonym "Sleepless in Seattle" is A. a description of Sam's state of mind in the story B. a way of identifying Sam while concealing his identity C. the title of a movie known to the audience and known also to people in the story D. an easily remembered title for this movie, with no special meaning Task 2. Write the names of the following people in the story. 1. the hero: 2. the hero's son: 3. the heroine's best (girl) friend: 4. the heroine's intended husband: 5. the heroine's brother: Task 3. Answer the questions. These can be answered by using a short phrase from Excerpt 2 1. What is the title of the series presented by Dr. Marcia? 2. what is the title of this program in the series? 3. How long before the beginning of the story did Sam's wife die? 4. What's the name of Sam's wife? 5. Who gives Sam the name "Sleepless in Seattle"? 6. What sort of Christmas does Dr. Marcia wish her listeners? Task 4. Questions on Excerpt 3. These can be answered in a word or a short phrase. 1. Annie believes that marriage is a matter of fate or destiny. Does Dennis agree? 2. According to Becky, the sort of love that Annie is looking for is to be found only in one place. Where? 3. According to Dennis, there is one very good reason for going nowhere near Seattle. What is it? 4. How does Annie start her letter to Sam? 5. She arranges a meeting time and place in her letter. Where and when? 6. Becky mentions two men with whom she has been involved. What are their names? Task 5. Questions on Excerpt 4. 1. Of the many women who have written to him, Sam is seeing just one regularly. What is her name? She has one characteristic that Jonah doesn't like at all. What is it? 2. 3mule's suggestion that they meet at the top of the Empire State Building on St. Valentine's Day reminds Greg's wife of a movie. What is the title of the movie? 3. What are the names of the two principal actors of the movie? 4. What is the title of the war movie that both Sam and Greg like so much? Task 6. Questions on Excerpt 6. 1. Since Christmas, Walter has noticed a change in Annie, he uses two adjectives to describe her. What are they? 2. To whom did Waiter's present formerly belong? 3. Walter and Annie are buying a dinner set. How many plate settings do they order? 4. When Walter orders Dom Delousie, Am'fie tells the puzzled waiter he is joking. What does he intend to order? 5. When Annie says "I can't do this," what does she mean? Task 7. Read the comment in PART IV and choose the best answer to the questions below. 1. When the reviewer first heard about this movie, she expected that she would dislike it because it sounded A. violent and vicious B. sentimental and romantic C. absurd and ridiculous D. full of unlikely coincidences 2. The director of the movie is A. Meg Ryan B. Tom Hanks C. Nora Ephron D. Stanley Kubrick 3. The movie intends to remind audiences of A. the movie romances of the '40s and '50s B. the movies made of the Second World War C. the movies of the old silent cinema D. the famous Ealing Comedies 4. The Baltimore Sun is A. a TV program B. a newspaper C. an advertising agency D. a radio program 5. Someone suffering from insomnia cannot A. forget the past B. eat C. sleep D. be happy 6. The time and place of the meeting that Annie suggests is straight out of A. a novel B. apoem C. a radio program D. a movie 7. Movies designed in the main for a female audience are sometimes called "weepies" because A. they are about dreadful events B. the audiences are touched by sympathy with the characters C. the audiences admire the courage of the characters D. they are about events that occur in everyday life 8. Sleepless in Seattle is enjoyed A. mostly by women B. mainly by men C. equally by men and women D. by younger audiences IV. Commentary Review of the Movie At first I thought I wasn't going to like this film. It started out so treacly with lots of talk about love being "fated" and how when you met the fight person you just feel the magic and know it's forever, etc. But that was before I saw what I think Nora Ephron -- the director—is up to here. This is no simple-minded innocent romance. It is a sophisticated, very savvy, 1990s homage to the Hollywood romances of the '40s and '50s. Though it. looks upon them with nostalgia, Ephron knows you can't just straightforwardly copy that genre in the 1990s. You have to approach it obliquely; things are a lot more complicated these days. So she plays with the conventions of these old romances, she uses the soundtrack to poke fun at them, and she even has every woman in the film quoting dialogue from that great example of the genre, An Affair to Remember, starting Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Like those old films, this one has a convoluted plot that I don't want to summarize. Suffice to say that Annie, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and engaged to be married, hears Sam one night on a radio talk show that his eight-year-old son had called to ask for help in finding a new wife for his widowed dads Since Sam lives in Seattle and admits to insomnia, the radio psychologist taking the calls dubs him "Sleepless in Seattle". Annie falls in love with this man she's never seen. Sam is getting letters from would-be wives by the armload and he's only interested in thinking about those who live nearby -- not in Baltimore. The kid, Jonah, who hates the woman his dad has begun dating, is partial to Annie thanks to a letter she wrote. So he sets about to try to convince them to meet, as Annie has suggested in her letter straight out of An Affair to Remember, on the observation tower of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. Do they? What do you think.9 Not only that, but there's a great big red valentine lit up on the side of the building. On the way to this inevitable happy ending, however, there is a just lot of funny stuff. I started doing movie reviews because so many times I thought that the movie reviewers, exclusively males in this neck of the woods, just didn't get it when it came to films women like a lot. So I was set up for a scene in which Greg's wife launches into an impassioned and teary plot summary of An Affair to Remember while her husband and Sam sit there utterly dumbfounded and uncomprehending of how she could be so swept away by that film. Then they launch into their own tip-roaring discussion of the fine points of some beloved war film and she sits there, utterly dumbfounded and uncomprehending of their taste in films as well. I haven't laughed so hard at a scene in a film in ages. There's a similar one earlier in the film: Annie and her best friend rattle off the TV commercials that make them tear up, while two male colleagues shake their heads in disbelief. One of the things I take Nora Ephron to be trying to do with Sleepless in Seattle is to make a film that is neither a woman's film nor a man's film but one that appeals equally to both. So, although the main objects of her homage are "weepies" or women's films, at the same time she keeps the focus very strongly on Sam and Adam. And how Sam deals with his grief and then the trials and tribulations of his re-entering the dating game after 15 years of being out of circulation. My hunch is that she has succeeded in making an equal opportunity film for both men and women. The audience I saw it with was fairly evenly divided between the sexes and it's the first film I have seen in a long time where the audience burst into applause when it was over. I guess it was a good feeling to find a film that doesn't insult your intelligence; that has no sex, violence, or bad language; that's populated with people you like; that's funny, and ends on a low-key but happy note.