Sean Walsh

Love is a Temporary Madness

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. A so-so movie that had its moments. One scene in particular made me sit up: the Greek doctor (John Hurt) and his daughter (Penelope Cruz). She speaks not a word, acts with her eyes, facial expressions, listening to his advice, taking in  his words of wisdom. Because she is wordless all the more reason for the viewer to focus on Hurt. His lines so impressed me I went in search of the relevant script – and found it:

 “Love is a temporary madness,

it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether

your roots have so entwined together

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because that is what love is.

 

Love is not breathlessness,

it is not excitement,

it is not the promulgation of promises

of eternal passion…

That is just being “in love”, which any fool can do.

 

Love itself is what is left over

when being in love has burned away,

and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Your mother and I had it,

we had roots that grew towards each other underground,

and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen

from our branches

we found that we were one tree and not two.”

 

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

The Greek doctor’s counsel to his daughter.