The Love Letter

＜The Love Letter 情有千千結(1999)＞是部境遇奇特的影片．Ellen DeGeneres出櫃之後，電視影集終結，影迷正擔心她的事業會不會走入死胡同，她出人意表地與大導演的老婆Kate Capshaw一起合演這部影片．另外的驚喜，這是香港導演陳可辛嘗試在好萊塢發展的試金石．

現在回頭來看，Ellen DeGeneres與Kate Capshaw真的不適合拍電影，陳可辛一例證實華人導演不拍動作片，在好萊塢註定辛苦．

倒是本片的演員，好像是同志角色的彙集站：不是之前演過同志角色，就是之後去演了同志角色．

Tom Selleck湯姆謝立克：之前在＜In & Out 新郎向後跑 (1997)＞大膽男男擁吻

Kate Capshaw：後來在＜A Girl Thing (2001)＞，飾演雙性戀廣告設計

Ellen DeGeneres：後來在＜If These Walls Could Talk 2 為妳鍾情 (2000)＞演出求子拉子

Julianne Nicholson：在本片中段理了一個可愛的小平頭，後來在＜Puccini for Beginners(2006)＞*Review演出拉子

最特別的是片中白髮Miss Scattergoods，由英國資深女星Geraldine McEwan飾演．她因演出＜Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989)＞片中頑強的母親而獲得1991年英國影劇協會BAFTA最佳女主角．這次她反過來演出資深歐蕾．片中像愛情靈藥般的情書，其實是出自Miss Scattergoods年輕時寫給女主角母親的表白．



電影版的情書是這樣寫：

Dearest, do you know how much in love with you I am? Did I trip, did I stumble, loose my balance, graze my knee, graze my heart?

I know I'm in love when I see you. I know when I long to see you I'm on fire.
Not a muscle has moved. Leaves hang unruffled by any breeze. The air is still.
I have fallen in love without taking a step.

You are all wrong for me and I know it. But I no longer care for my thoughts unless they're thoughts of you. When I peel an orange, when I drive my car, when I lie down each night without you, I remain, yours.


電影改編自暢銷原著，電影版的情書刪減不少，有網友貼上原著的情書版本， 可以上下對照：

Dear Goat,

How does one fall in love? Do you trip? Do you stumble, lose your balance and drop to the sidewalk, graze your knee, graze your heart? Do you crash to the stony ground? Is there a Precipice, from which you float, over the edge, forever?

I know I'm in love when I see you, I know when I long to see you. Not a muscle has moved. Leaves hang unruffled by any breeze. The air is still. I have fallen in love without taking a step. When did this happen? I haven't even blinked.

I'm on fire. Is that too banal for you? It's not, you know. You'll see. It's what happens. It's what matters. I'm on fire.

I no longer eat. I forget to eat. Food looks silly to me, irrelevant. If I even notice it. But I notice nothing. My thoughts are full and raging, a house full of brothers, related by blood, feuding blood feuds.

"I'm in love."
"Typically stupid choice."
"I am, though, I'm racked by love as if love were pain."
"Go ahead. *beep* up your life. It's all wrong and you know it. Wake up. Face it."
"There's only one face, it's all I see, awake or asleep."

I threw the book out the window last night. I tried to forget. You are all wrong for me, I know it, but I no longer care for my thoughts unless they're thoughts of you. When I'm close to you, in your presence, I feel your hair brush my cheek when it does not. I look away from you, sometimes. Then I look back.

When I tie my shoes, when I peel an orange, when I drive my car, when I lie down each night without you, I remain,

As ever,
Ram

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