Broken Hearts and Cherished Memories

Hello Dear Reader!

Today I hope to introduce to you a movie that I think is extremely unique in both its plot but also its message. I was first introduced to this movie while I was scrolling through Instagram and the trailer popped up. I thought it was going to be released on a stream platform due to COVID, but to my surprise the theaters were opened, and the movie was available.

For those of you that know me you would know that I am a HUGE advocate for going to the theater. Not only do I love to support my theater and its staff, but I enjoy getting out of my house and having a whole different experience. Do I regret it? Sometimes depending on the movie and what kind of audience there is, but then you get that special movie and audience that just makes your heart burst with joy (that is a story for a different time).

The movie I will introduce is The Broken Hearts Gallery. It is about a girl named Lucy who is a “collector”, some would say hoarder but we do not use that word, of items that she takes during a relationship that sparks a memory so she will never forget that moment. She mistakenly meets a man named Nick who is a cynic that is renovating an old YMCA to make a Boutique Hotel called the Chloe. Lucy wants to create her own art gallery and the Chloe is the perfect spot. Nick and Lucy strike a deal that if she helps Nick with the hotel work, she can use the space for her own gallery. The Broken Heart Gallery are items donated by various people who are finally ready to let go of memorabilia from their past relationships and to tell their story.

There is so much more to it, but I am trying my best to keep from spoiling the movie because it is one that you definitely should consider watching. For me there are three main things that stand out to me when I am watching the movie: physical touch, friendships, and living in the moment.

Hopefully most of you follow our blog on Instagram and Facebook, and if not, you totally should, but on those platforms, I told you that my love language is physical touch. Well this movie speaks to me in a whole new level because there is so much physical love including hugging, hand holding, leaning on someone, and even putting one’s legs over another person’s legs. I know this sounds silly but when you see someone speak the language you receive; it just gives you instant butterflies. The touch is not shown by only the main characters but also the side characters and Lucy’s best friends show each other physical love as well. It is unique because this is the first movie I have seen in a long time where you can truly see an effort to show this type of love.

Speaking of Lucy’s friends, Amanda and Nadine, these girls are with Lucy through thick and thin. They can speak their opinions and bet on their own friend’s relationships without having to worry about compromising their steadfast love for each other. No matter how much Nadine and Amanda tire of hearing about Lucy and her many emotions they are always there to pick up the pieces and threaten anyone who hurts her. It is just so interesting how three completely different people can love each other so much that no matter what they go through they will always be standing tall together. Nick also has amazingly supportive friends, Marcus and his wife Randi. They are a little blunter when it comes to telling Nick that he is making a stupid decision, or even telling him that he needs to get off his high horse and accept the fact that he is in love. Randi seems harsh but it is because she wants what is best for Nick and she does not deal with bull crap, so that means that Marcus has to give Nick the blunt but more kind perspective that his wife is unable to express. No matter what both Lucy and Nick have full support from their friends and that is special.

My final take away from the movie is the main point or learning opportunity. Lucy is so obsessed with collecting different trinkets because she thinks she will lose all the amazing memories, but in reality she is living in the past and it is stunting her ability to open up and grow from the moments that make us who we are. In the movie it explains why she is collecting everything, but sadly Dear Reader I will not give that away. Instead I will say that it took her hero, art curator Eva Woolf, to knock some final sense into her.

“Pain is inevitable. It’s what you do with it that matters.”

— Eva Woolf

Eva was talking about how she became a big name by leaving her jealous husband and finding people and art that made her feel happy. Lucy asked her if she ever regretted marrying him and Eva told her that she wouldn’t change anything because those events are what made her the women she is today. That was super powerful to me because most people would say that they wished they could go back to change an event, but in Eva’s case she would rather stay the way she is and keep growing.

Dear Readers, I hope you do decide to watch this movie not just for me, but because I have sparked your interest about it. If you don’t watch the movie, I want you to walk away with this lesson in mind. Heartbreak is inevitable one way or another, but instead of dwelling on it and wondering what YOU did wrong pick yourself up and keep walking. You can learn from pain, and that pain can mold you into the person God made you to be. God does not put us into a situation without the necessary tools we need to succeed. Trust that God is putting you down a path that you will challenge you, but he will also put people in your lives to help you through it like great friends and family!