Somewhere in Time (1980)

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Starring: Christopher Reeve (Richard Collier), Jane Seymour (Elise McKenna)

I finally watched Somewhere in Time (1980). My God sister told me about it after we had another discussion regarding my favourite film - Titanic. I love romance and films that emphasise an element of destiny and fate so she told me about this film that had the same effect on her as Titanic has on me.

Last night we sat down (no phones allowed being the rule, as my God sister insisted I watch it with my full attention, when I broke this rule I was snapped back into my place with a quick 'this part is important!' LOL) and I got to grips with this time travelling romance film that mind f*@ked me to the extreme!

Firstly I was struck by the beginning of the film, an elderly woman approached Richard (Christopher Reeve) at his opening night of his play and she hauntingly captured the rooms attention. She took his hand and put an old pocket watch in it, she closed his hand and whispered 'Come back to me'. It honestly sent a chill down my spine (even though my God sister had re-enacted this scene for me previously with much passion) and was a great way to set the scene and get the questions running through your mind.

Richard is a playwright and had his opening night of his play at the theatre near the Grand Hotel where he visited some eight years after this encounter with the old woman. He was drawn to this place and later he found out why. He comes across an old photo hanging in the Hall of History and is mesmerised by the woman in the photo. Her beauty is apparent but he is not sure why he is so obsessed with her.

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Eventually he discovers that the old woman that gave him the pocket watch was in fact the woman in this photo, Elise McKenna who was a famous actress and had stayed at that hotel in 1912. He became engrossed in the notion that he had known this woman on a deeper level and researched her life and came across a book regarding time travelling from his college professor in her belongings.

He then tries to do the impossible by attempting to travel back in time to 1912 when he discovered he had signed in to the visitor's log book at the exact same hotel almost 60 years earlier.

The poignant thing in this film is the fact that he does meet this woman and they have a whirlwind romance but he inevitably has to return to the future, where he came from. The trick was not to remember the future and to completely immerse himself in the past in order to stay with Elise, his true love. They both fell for each other which is why they were heartbroken when Richard disappeared after finding a 1979 coin in the pocket of his suit, reminding him of the future and dragging him back against his will.

The trip back to the future completely drained him, he was heartbroken at the fact that in his future, Elise was now dead but in her past, he was not able to stay because he was reminded of his future (confusing I know). The point is, they were in love and meant to be but living in two different eras and only able to be together through the form of time travel, star crossed lovers if you will.

The film really does boggle the mind as you think to yourself, did he try and go into the past originally to find her because she gave him the watch? He must of given her the watch before in order for her to find him in the future to give it back to him. He then went back to find her again but she could not warn him of what would make him remember his future as she did not know he would have forgotten the modern coin in his pocket.

Now I understand, this is one complicated explanation of a film and trust me, I am having a hard time getting my words right to explain this film but that is the beauty of it. The viewer has to build up their own perception of how Richard's time travelling idea came about in the first place and why he could never go back to her again. It is a very subjective film that leaves many debates and opinions open for discussion.

The fact is, they both died of a broken heart, they were both born in the wrong era destined to be with each other but fate was too cruel to enable them to be with each other. They experienced a short-lived romance that lasted them a life-time and that to me is the greatest love story.

This is a must see just for the sake of trying to figure out my review of this film LOL. I hope I have been as clear as possible but it truly is a worthwhile film for any hopeless romantics out there! The acting is fantastic and Christopher Reeve really is a likable character and easy to watch on screen for the entirety of the film while Jane Seymour is as captivating and beautiful as ever.

Rating: 8.5