Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Joie de Vivre



 Last week, I saw a beautiful French movie, The Women on the Sixth Floor, about a rich, French man who falls in love with "the help": Spanish women who really have "joie de vivre". It's the second French comedy I see that is really funny.

It's one of those movies where someone rich and disconnected discovers love and joy through a poorer (but more family and community-oriented) culture in his own country. Like Spanglish, for example. Some of my favorite things that the French man said were, "They're poor, they get up at six in the morning and get home late and tired, but they're happy." And, "I've found a family here." I really identified with the movie because I had a similar fascination for the Mexican culture my last year in high school. It was actually through that fascination that I came back to the Church. When the French man in the movie went to mass with them and prayed the rosary with them at night, I saw the same beauty I had seen back then.

I loved how they had so little, but they were rich in community and friendship with one another. The movie showed them supporting each other in hardships, helping each other with their work, laughing and telling stories in the park, making fun of each other in a playful way. It made me sad to live alone and far from people I'd like to build community with, but it was definitely a reminder of what's important in life.


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