A Love Story - That Takes A Long Time To Tell

What's with me and all the movie related posts lately? Whatever. Anyway, Internet, allow me to introduce you to a little fellow called Lancelot. You might think you know this love story, but I assure you, you do not. Permit me to elaborate and take a moment of your time. You won't be sorry.

So, in 1968 the film version of the Broadway play Camelot came out. It won the Oscar for Best Film. It is my number 2 favorite movie of all time, right behind The Wizard of Oz. My parents took me to see Richard Burton play the role of King Arthur in San Francisco in 1983. It was my first live performance I'd ever seen. Think Pretty Woman at the opera and you will get my 11 year old self sitting there overcome with rapture and joy as I watched the story of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot unfold. And again, you might think that this is the story on which this post is going to focus. You would be so wrong. Please, for the sake of all that is good and holy, continue.

Vanessa Redgrave played the role of Guinevere in the film opposite Richard Harris as Arthur. A relative unknown Italian actor, Franco Nero, played the role of Lancelot. And let me tell you, he played that role better than maybe anyone has played any role ever in any movie. First of all, he was the most handsome man in the universe. In the opening scene the camera pans up from the ground to the wall of a castle in far off France and he is standing atop the castle as he answers the call of Arthur of England and the idea of the Knights of the Round Table. Might for Right and all that. Lancelot is the ultimate of all leading men of all time. He is noble, committed to a cause, religious and undefeated in any battle. Stud. Muffin. Then, he chucks all of it because he falls in love with the Queen of England and the wife of his best friend, King Arthur. Guinevere. They try to deny their passion but ultimately they admit their love for each other and have a torrid affair. But the affair destroys them. Not only do they hate themselves for betraying Arthur, but they have betrayed the cause of Camelot, which they both believe in with all of their hearts. They get caught. Guinevere is sentenced to burn at the stake. Lancelot is banished. All the knights are taking sides. War breaks out. Arthur loves Lance like a brother and Ginny as his wife and he must carry out her sentence of death. But secretly he prays that Lance will ride in and save her even though he knows it will result in war and the final destruction of Camelot. He loves them more than anything even though they have betrayed and hurt him. Sure enough, Lancelot charges in on his white steed just in time to cut Guinevere down from the stake (they had already lit the fire) and he charges out of Camelot with her on his horse. You might think they would run off to France or Egypt. Anywhere they could be together. But alas, they do not. Their guilt and shame for betraying God, Arthur and Camelot destroy their future. Ginny spends the rest of her days in a convent as a nun. Lancelot goes into battle and will end up dying by the sword years later. It's a sad story, but like Romeo & Juliet or Braveheart, it is wonderfully tragic. The chemistry between Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero is electric. They sizzle up the screen unlike any two actors EVER. And up until last year, I thought that was the end of our story. Not even close.

No one heard from Franco Nero ever again. He never did another film and I assumed he faded into Italian television like Lorenzo Lamas or Rick Springfield or that dude from the Dukes of Hazard. Dreamy one day, forgotten the next. Vanessa Redgrave went on to have a great career, appearing in film and television. I have always enjoyed her work, but never as much as her role as Guinevere. Vanessa Redgrave is the mother of Natasha Richardson, the wife of Liam Niesen. You'll remember last year, Natasha Richardson lost her life in a skiing accident. People magazine did a big article on Natasha Richardson's life. There was a picture of the family gathered at the funeral. There in the picture was her mother, Vanessa Redgrave and standing by her side was her husband of forty years. You guessed it. It was Franco Nero. Lancelot. I cried my eyes out. I showed Mike and I couldn't even get out why I was crying so hard. I told him "they ended up together...hiccup...in real life. waaaaaa". I felt strangely like something unsettled in my past got put in exactly the right place. It turns out they fell in love while filming Camelot and the rest as they say...is happily ever after history. And you may be thinking, that is the end of our story. Nope. But we are getting there.

Fast forward to last Friday night. We are waiting for New Moon to start. A preview of a movie called Letters to Juliet came on. Amanda Seyfried, the daughter from Mama Mia is staring in it (I love her) opposite Vanessa Redgrave. It's about a place in Verona, Italy (the town where Romeo and Juliet is set) where people go to this wall and they leave letters to Juliet about love, loss and heartbreak. Amanda Seyfried finds a letter behind a stone in the wall written in 1957 by a woman named Claire all about how she was set to run away with this guy named Lorenzo but she didn't show up and she left him there wondering and how she tried to find him later on but couldn't. Amanda's character sets out to find Claire. She finds her in England where she is a widow but has loved Lorenzo her whole life. She (Amanda Seyfried), Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) and Claire's grandson set out for a small town in Italy to find Lorenzo. As I watched the preview I sort of found myself unable to breathe. My heart kept speeding up and I was gripping my seat. Finally, they find Lorenzo. He comes around the bend in the Italian countryside, in a vineyard, riding a white horse. He is an old man and is weathered and wrinkled. It is Franco Nero. And he is riding toward Vanessa Redgrave. Mike said he turned his head to sip his coke at the exact moment that I put all of it together and he said I gasped super loudly and just burst into tears. You guys I was like hysterically crying. Mike squeezed my hand and all I could say is "it's him!!!" And I couldn't stop crying until five minutes into New Moon. And I've been crying every time I've thought about it since. And that my friends, is the point of this post.

I know it makes no sense. But my entire childhood and adult life I have wished that Camelot could have ended differently and that Guinevere and Lancelot could have ridden off into the sunset together. I've watched it like over 50 times and each time I hope that maybe it'll end differently. And then I found out that in a very real way, it DID end differently because the two actors that set the screen on fire with their passion were really and truly in love and ended up together and have been together for 40 years. And now to get the gift of getting to see them reunite on-screen, knowing he hasn't made a film since he made one with her and that the chance to work with her again has brought him out of retirement and that they are all old and wrinkled but still so in love...it's just too much happiness for my heart to hold. I think it's the very best kind of love story.

I know it's dumb. But if you go out and rent Camelot, you will TOTALLY get it.