music, books, love and kindness

Consider yourself very lucky if you’ve never fallen like Bud and Deanie in Splendor in the Grass — a fairly well-known, but often underrated Natalie Wood film that speaks volumes about how dangerous emotions can be. I haven’t seen the film in a long time, but it doesn’t matter because I could share (if you so desired) frame by frame just exactly what happens. Let me tell you, the movie might be pretty, but it’s not always romantic…it’s such a huge storm of feelings that I can only handle it every few years.

The title is taken from a line in a William Wordsworth poem, and it appropriately underscores how often innocence and sexuality are at odds, yet similar in their euphoria.

In one startling, heartbreaking scene, Deanie’s character (Wood) is taking a bath and has already started to show signs of being affected by her feelings for Bud (Warren Beatty). Her mother — with good intentions, even if they are smothering — is concerned about her daughter’s "purity." Deanie, suddenly covering herself and standing up in the tub, shouts "No, Mom! I’m not spoiled. I’m not spoiled, Mom!" It’s a scene years ahead of its time in its depiction of the messiness of first love — shocking in its bluntness, almost tragic in its vulnerability.

Few films have left such a mark on me, but Splendor in the Grass is particularly special because of its resonating power over the years. Anyone who has loved just a little too much in her (or his) life can probably understand how the wrong kind of love can put you in the hospital…as happens with Deanie. (Did I mention how outstanding Natalie Wood is here??)

As with any classic, its age doesn’t matter. Love changes in form over the years, but its effects can be equally smashing or uplifting. We want to feel passionately. To go through life without any interests or enthusiasm is awful…but sometimes how strongly we feel about someone zaps everything else out of us. The cost of loving someone else is sometimes detrimental to our own well-being.

Splendor in the Grass dealt with sex and sexuality in an honest and sincere way that current films would not be able to…and it recognized that teenagers and young adults have the power to love and want things they may not be capable of handling so early in their lives.