Seeking Persephone

I watched Seeking Persephone over this last weekend because I kept seeing ads for it on Facebook, and because I remembered I have a Roku account.

I really enjoyed it. It's a sweet love story, it's British (or at least it tries to be; apparently the actors are Americans and it was shot in the UK with an American production team). It plays on the general theme of Beauty and the Beast. The rich but reclusive duke marries the beautiful maiden from a poor family, and the storyline is how they come to terms with each other.

She is a strong woman, determined to help her family and transform her husband by the power of her love. He has quiet, gentle character buried away under his gruff exterior. Love prevails and their hearts meet and melt into each other. It's all very beautiful, and as an added plus the whole movie is very clean, emotive, and sweet.

And of course the fantasy is totally not the way anything works. Persephone is a traumatized, parentified daughter (we learn her mother's death left her raising her siblings at age 12, and we see that her father is "a scholar" which basically means he is checked out of reality and does nothing to provide for his family). And yet, she is devoted, generous and strong, and completely capable of holding her own in relationship with the wealthy duke. And the duke's experience since childhood was feeling abandoned by his mother by behavior and father by death, and being filled with shame due to a physical defect. And yet one confession by his mother quickly corrects all of that and renders his heart completely open to the vulnerability his bride's beauty is working inside him. It's a beautiful fantasy that love reaches in and conquers all that -- ever so quickly -- but of course that's completely unrealistic. But it is so nice spend a few hours dreaming that marriage sight unseen can bring such beautiful things in the course of a few weeks. And that tenderness and courage to be vulnerable are simply waiting for the right breeze to blow to turn our hearts to lasting bliss. I mean, I have some oceanfront property to sell you in Nebraska. But that's why watching the movie feels good. We like magic to feel possible.