but she got published, at least!

Ok, I watched it. I watched Eat, Pray, Love.

I didn’t even wait for it to be released on Netfix--I actually told Comcast-on-Demand “Yes. Yes, you may charge me $4.99 for this movie. Go ahead. Do it.” I wanted to pick a fight, and I wanted to pick it with that movie. I’m not sure what I expected, but I obviously (not having even read the book,) needed to view the film before I could launch a cathartic quibble.

Later, I read some of the reviews of the book on Amazon. I wanted to see what people thought of the source material. There were, basically, two strains of comment: There were the 4 and 5 stars reviewers who admired Elizabeth Gilbert’s turn of phrase, and lyrical manner of describing nebulous philosophical concepts. (I can’t argue with such reviews. One need not admire a main character to rate writing highly.) Then there were the 1 star reviews, in which readers largely took exception to the narrative. It was the author’s behavior and autobiography earning their thumbs down, and--way with words or not--they were annoyed at having bothered with it.

I mention this about the book reviews for the following reason: What you get in the film is the narrative, without the benefit of the author’s stylistic ramblings. Hence, it’s hard not to render judgment simply on the basis of that: the narrative.

And here’s what I got from the narrative. EPL appears to be nothing more than a segment out of the life of a woman who--for no reason apart from existential angst, apparently--tanked a marriage to a fine, caring man, jilted a decent lover, and proceeded to spend a year (at her publisher’s expense, I believe,) navel-gazing and eating a lot in attractive and exotic locales. In the end she takes up with a third seemingly decent fellow, and publishes a book which--by dint of Oprah--is a financial success.

It is possible that, in the book, Liz Gilbert describes some sort of philosophical resolution. It is, in fact, likely that she does so. This was not conveyed by the film, and I’ll wager that that’s fair. Itchy people do not become un-itchy people by running away from themselves. (And here I speak from very personal experience.) Maybe Gilbert did rhapsodize eloquent in some form of denouement. But I wouldn’t believe in any real change. Surely she could spin a pretty philosophical picture with equal skill before she launched her odyssey.

Still, people must carry out their lives, and I have no personal reason to object to hers. But I do have personal knowledge and experience: That skittering about does not change, in any fundamental way, your manner of interface with existence. So, regardless of the book’s conclusion, I will draw my own on this review: I watched the film to null effect. Something ventured, nothing gained. But the landscapes were pretty.