REVIEW: The Notebook

The Notebook (dir. Nick Cassavetes, 2004) *****

reviewed by Natasha Bullen

Tales of romance usually fall into two categories – epically sensationalist or simply downright pathetic. Then director Nick Cassavetes comes along and creates an absolutely beautiful account of a love divided by class in 1940s South Carolina. The film begins in a modern nursing home with an elderly man reading a story to an aged woman. Cassavetes relocates us into the past with the characters, landing us in the midst of a carnival – so begins the story of The Notebook.

Rachel McAdams delivers a flawless performance as seventeen year old Allie Hamilton, a highly privileged heiress with her life all planned out for her. That is, until she meets Noah (Ryan Gosling), an extremely ordinary country boy who quite literally sweeps her off her feet. With such an unlikely attraction, you would think the film would struggle from start to finish, creating a romance never really plausible. Yet the chemistry between McAdams and Gosling is electric and this is what makes the film work so magnificently. Their volatile relationship is unmatchable, fights are always followed by making up. Then the summer ends. Allie’s parents forbid her from seeing Noah again. Allie must go to college in New York. Noah belongs in the country. Noah sees this, so the couple fight and this time actually break up. Their lives separated, there is one question burning in everyone’s mind – is it over?

If this film does not bring you to tears you have no heart. It’s that simple.

(This review was originally published with a score of 4/5. The score has been revised to 5/5 at Natasha’s request. – ed.)