Last night, I hurriedly scrolled through a listing of available movies on Netflix. I ignored the fact that "Remains of the Day" is playing again. I didn't even slow down as I scrolled past it, although Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors.
Decades ago, the General watched Remains of the Day with me and was less than impressed. Actually, her assessment of the movie wasn't that kind. She thought the movie was beyond boring and that I needed a full-blown psychological examination because I thought the movie was good.
"Remains of the Day" is the story of an older English butler looking back over his life and realizing that he had not chosen the good part. He neglected personal interests and opportunities to find favor with his employer. In the end, it didn't work out well for him.
I've read that next to love, regret is the second most often emotion that people experience. Of course, regret is a mixed bag. It could relate to regret for the things one has done or regret for things omitted from one's life.
As I allowed my mind to consider regret, I thought about the words to a French song entitled: "Non, je ne regrette rien." I like songs that tell a story, and the one expressed in this song is noteworthy. The General and I were on a Mediterranean cruise when we heard the song for the first time.
Of course, had it not been for the singer on the cruise ship that elaborated on the life of Edith Piaf, we wouldn't fully have understood the back story to the song. The words seemed autobiographical for the French singer that made the song popular.
I don't remember the name of the singer on the cruise ship, but I do remember that she was from Scotland and that she had an incredible voice. She shared the story of the life of Edith Piaf, a French singer who was very popular in France in the 1940s and 1950s. She sang the song in English and then sang the song in French.
Piaf's lover was Marcel Cerdan, a French boxer with a wife and three children. He was killed in a plane crash flying from France to spend time with Piaf in New York City where she was doing a concert.
Perhaps he was the love of her life, but his untimely death coupled with a car accident or two and a subsequent addiction to pain killers took its toll on her life, She subsequently married a 26-year-old man and the two of them were married for about a year when she died. She was 47-years-old at the time.
The English butler looked back over his life with a sense of regret. Piaf proudly exonerated herself from expressing regret, but could she really have been that confident in the choices she made?
Though the General would never support the recommendation that I'm going to make, I'm going to make it anyway. Remains of rhe Day merits watching. You can find it on Netflix.
Let me know if you agree with me or if you should have listened to the General.
All My Best!
Don
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