A movie composed of a hackneyed story, a nice theme of love and values of life, and a series of beautifully rendered scenes.
Several memorable lines: "security comes from inside himself,” “home is where you are,” “you are running away from something important because you are afraid,” and etc.
Carefully designed costumes and props. The film starts with Sarah, wearing a bright blue dress, stepping out of her richly blue car. The color choice is, first, visually attractive and, second, speaks of her extroversive personality. Later, the rather casual clothes of Ron’s friends at the dinner contrast with the exquisite suits and dresses in the cocktail party of Cary’s friend. The costumes highlight the stark difference between the circles of Ron and Cary, indicating their different social positions and life styles. Cary's different outfits throughout the film are also carefully chosen. She starts from a widow's grey suit. After meeting Ron, she puts on a vibrantly red dress for the country club. She shift back to the widow's black velvet on Christmas Eve after breaking up with Ron. These all suggest Cary's mental activities.
Some hints are given to foreshadow later developments in the story. At first is the branch that Ron gave to Cary, which she treated like a bouquet of flowers and placed in a beautiful vase. The second is the broken Wedgwood porcelain. Other elements are used to indicate the ideology of the film. An example would be the book, Walden, that Cary picked up at the Andersons'.
The curated lighting is my favorite element of this film. It uses high-key lighting in the garden scene and the party scene to create more realistic settings. Low-key lighting, on the other hand, is used in more emotionally charged scenarios. For the conversations between Cary and Ron and Cary and her son, high contrast of light and darkness hides and reveals the facial expressions of the characters. The most memorable scene for me is when Ron and Cary stand in front of the large glass window. The cold and blue lights from the snow outdoors juxtaposed with the warm and orange lights of fireplace illuminating behind the couple generate such a peaceful yet secretly melancholy atmosphere. This also foretells the following warm proposal and cold conflict.
