Hello everyone!! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!! Our link will be live for a whole week after we post about a movie.
This week’s movie is Somewhere in Time, another Lisa pick. I was looking forward to it because I am a Michigander, and this movie was set in and filmed at Mackinac Island, somewhere I have been many times. Although, never back in time.
Somewhere in Time stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, two of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. Their attractiveness onscreen was almost unreal. Lisa and I were texting each other while watching the movie, and I told her that Jane Seymour actually looked like artwork to me.
According to the manufacturer (this what the Amazon entry states) “Somewhere in Time is the story of a young writer who sacrifices his life in the present to find happiness in the past, where true love awaits him. Young Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve) is approached by an elderly woman who gives him an antique gold watch and who pleads with him to return in time with her. Years later, Richard Collier is overwhelmed by a photograph of a beautiful young woman (Jane Seymour). Another picture of this woman in her later years reveals to him that she is the same woman who had given him the gold watch. Collier then becomes obsessed with returning to 1912 and the beautiful young woman who awaits him there.”
This movie, for all the time travel science fiction of it all, is a romantic love story, filled with gorgeous gowns and the timeless beauty of the Grand Hotel. That porch! The movie made the most of it too, with lots of long shots of it. I have never walked on it, but I know you can pay $10 to do so, if you are not a paying guest at the hotel itself. That seems worth it to me!
Ok back to the movie. I think this is a lovely story, but if you look too closely at it, it might seem weird. On the surface, it could be a story that is about a man who falls in love with a portrait and wills himself almost violently back in time to find the woman in the portrait. The woman herself has a guardian/protector who has known her since she was 16 and thinks that she belongs to him, which might feel a bit icky. So my suggestion is, don’t look to closely at this story. Enjoy it for what it is – a love story between Richard and Elise, one that transcends decades. Connected souls through time. If you read the Stephen King book 11/22/63, it reminded me of the love story in that book. Which honestly makes sense. Somewhere in Time the movie, is based on a book written by Richard Matheson, who is a horror/fantasy/science fiction writer, and Stephen King has mentioned him as a creative influence in the past. You may know Matheson best for the story I am Legend (and yes the story was way better than the movie for that one).
Lisa looked up the book Somewhere in Time, and read that there were some parts left out of the film version, that tied it all together a bit more cohesively. I don’t want to say what though, as that reveals the ending!
My favorite part of the movie is when Richard and Elise are just casually sitting on the floor of her room, all rumpled from *ahem*, eating fried chicken, and laughing together. It just felt so natural, less like acting, and just like two friends/lovers hanging out. And come to find out, Seymour and Reeve fell in love during the making of the movie. Seymour admitted this at the TCM festival in 2022, as reported by EW.
Well, here comes the story that I’m officially telling you now, because Chris and I, when we made the film, we literally fell madly in love..
Sigh. A love story within a love story.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie! It was so neat to see places I have been, and Billy and I would exclaim, hey we have seen that, or look! we have been there. The Round Island Lighthouse is a place we have seen, the lawn where Elise and Richard walked, I have seen the Grand Hotel many times. In fact, it is one of the first places on the island that is visible as you approach the island by ferry boat. It is just really a beautiful building. And if you are ever a tourist on Mackinac Island, be prepared – you can buy all sorts of souvenirs that tout this film. I believe there is even a festival or a weekend centered around it every year!
Next up is Ladies in Lavender, starring none other than Maggie Smith and Judi Dench! (I believe Dame Judi Dench graces our movie list three times this year!)
Did you watch along? If you did and want to link a post, you can post below until next Wednesday. You don’t need a blog though, you can also just comment below!
You can find Lisa’s post here!
And here are the rest of our movies and post dates.
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 