Ma Vie En Rose

I was just reviewing my profile. I noticed that I put "Ma Vie en Rose" as one of my favorite movies and indeed it is. Now that I think about it, it has probably been 3 years since I last saw it.

When it first came out I had just moved to New York. I was still living with Stan and Jim at the time. It was playing at the Quad and in the first week it played there I saw it 5 times (yes five paid movie admissions at New York City prices). I hate it when people brag about how many times they have seen a movie in a theater as if it is some sort of badge of courage...

From the first time I saw it I could not get enough of it...it so totally spoke to me regarding that feeling of being "an outsider". Couple that with the candy-colored visuals and I was hooked. I often have to "check myself" regarding that "outsider" feeling, it is kind of a theme running through my life, and yet I have to work hard not to associate that feeling with a sense of "specialness" or self-worth. Being an outsider is no better or worse than being, for lack of a better term, an insider...it is only one of a variety of ways to look at your relationship to society.

That being said, my (real or imagined) sense of not fitting in has created some great opportunities in my life. It got me out of Nebraska, plus it made me curious about marginalized people/things/ideas. For that I am grateful.