The Notebook (2004)

The Notebook is a 2004 romantic drama film starring Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands and James Garner. It was directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The Notebook was inspired by the story of the grandparents of Sparks' wife, who had been married over sixty years when Sparks met them. Sparks marvelled at how much the couple cared for each other, and wrote his novel as an attempt to describe such a love.

The Notebook is an epic love story which tells about lost opportunities due to insurmountable obstacles, about second chances, discrimination due to social strata, the true love that endures through time and overcomes the difficulties, the victory of love over the disease, even for a moment, or arranged marriages of convenience.

The narration, both in past and present, is full of strength, charm and deep, sometimes contradictory, feelings. The story captives the viewer from the very first moment and keeps its delight until the end. The special chemistry between the main characters adds an enchanting touch besides showing freshness and naturalness around them.

The story starts on the summer of 1940 in Seabrook, South Carolina. Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) is an upper-class girl who is spending summer with her family in that coastal town. At the main festival, she meets Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), a local boy who works at the lumber mill. Years later, an old gentleman reads the story of a couple written in a faded notebook to an old, sick lady...

- Why didn't you write me? Why? It wasn't over for me, I waited for you for seven years. But now it's too late.
- I wrote you 365 letters. I wrote you everyday for a year.
- You wrote me?
- Yes... it wasn't over, it still isn't over.

[Information taken from The Notebook, The Internet Movie Database, Wikipedia]