Books, like people enter your life for a specific reason and, I believe, to serve a very precise purpose. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was a gift from a dear friend who was giving me a subtle hint about how wonderful life can be if you practice the three words in the title.The book was well written with an easy and pleasing style. So much so that the clichés associated with all the countries our heroine visits, are forgiven. Nothing is ever perfect after all but I have spoken to some readers who were utterly irritated with Italy being associated with gelato, pizza and spaghetti; India with poverty, arranged marriages, crazy taxi drivers and meditation, and, Indonesia with beaches, good looking expatriates, meditation once again, wise healers and fortune tellers!
The novel is not a self help book ( I have an aversion for those), but more like a year long road trip of a women, Liz, who one day realises that her upper middle class lifestyle with all the bits and pieces often equated with domestic bliss mean nothing to her anymore. So, she drops everything, divorces her heartbroken husband, and gives up all her material belongings and probably a large part of her fortune to her angry and bewildered spouse who really did not see the split coming.
Liz takes off with a small bag, and a plan to travel to three different countries hoping to regain her passion for simple things like the taste of a delicious slice of pizza oozing with cheese and pepperoni; and simply feeling at peace with herself. The cover of the book describes her globe-trotting pilgrimage towards personal enlightenment in its full title: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search For Everything Across Italy India and Indonesia.
When a film was made this year with Julia Roberts as the soul searching heroine, I was naturally quite excited to get hold of a copy of the movie. The film is nearly two and a half hours long and perhaps 20 minutes from the beginning could have been edited off. While the novel beautifully describes in barely a few lines the devastating impact both mental and physical of a divorce; the movie lingers on, dissecting Liz’s emotions and her husband’s pain (Billy Crudup). Crudup’s character reappears for two emotionally charged flashback scenes during which Liz remembers lovely and happy moments of her marriage. And once she accepts that it is permitted to reminisce, yet acknowledge that those times will never return, she makes a big step towards inner peace.
Anyway it is only once Liz leaves New York and her rebound lover played by the sexy James Franco that the movie actually takes off.
Of course not everyone is lucky enough to be partnered in their soul searching with the likes of James Franco and Javier Bardem who would turn the world upside down for this confused woman! James Franco is pretty adorable as a soulful actor who unwillingly makes Liz realise that her life is utterly empty; and, the usually intense Bardem is having fun. It is nice to see him relaxed and play a good man still coming to terms with his divorce ( which took place ten years back!) while being completely devoted to his grown up children. Bardem sheds a few tears when his 19 year old son goes back to college after spring break and I have to admit that was very sweet to watch.
After leaving Rome and really coming to terms with her loneliness, Liz gets a much needed reality check thanks to an obnoxious Texan she meets at the Ashram in India. Richard makes her realise how self absorbed she is and co-dependent on others especially her often ill chosen male partners. With those teachings she goes to Indonesia and learns the art of giving while expecting nothing in return.
Julia Roberts illuminates the film. She is gorgeous in her flowy clothes, kurtas and hippy beads and she is the perfect choice for the role as she can look sophisticated and chic in her New York scenes and perfectly at ease in flip flops on the beach.
Plus Robert’s years of experience made it possible for her to play this not always pleasant heroine who leaves many broken hearts behind while trying to “find herself”. Cynics would say that we don’t all have the funds to nurse a broken heart and our soul searching with one year of traveling, but Eat Pray Love is actually what happened to the author Elizabeth Gilbert and thanks to her talent and luck, she was able to produce a best seller at the end of her adventure.
The film is pleasant, no doubt with its picture perfect locations and its gorgeous cast, but it is more serious that one would expect; not a chick flick as such because the themes of loneliness and fear of commitment are omnipresent throughout the movie.
As Eat Pray Love progresses, we watch Robert’s character evolve and get more confident about being alone. In Italy, she eats and stops worrying about developing a bulge. During a mouth watering lunch, her new Italian friends ask her for a word to describe herself and she says “writer”. When they point out to her that that word described what she does, not who she is, Liz realises that her journey is far from over and that she will never be able to give herself fully until she figures out and accepts who she really is.
I personally preferred the book to the film, however it is a matter of choice and best would be to start by reading Eat Pray Love followed by a nice movie night with your best friends.
Courtesy - The Sunday Leader (By Sumaya Samarasinghe)
