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How are “Love Story” and AWTR different?

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How are “Love Story” and AWTR different?

bullet AWTR takes place c. 1996; “Love Story” takes place c.1970
bullet AWTR is a story about faith; “Love Story” is about love and the absence of religion.
bullet “Love Story” has pre-marital sex, AWTR does not
bullet AWTR was based upon a book; “Love Story” was released as a book and movie (by the same author) simultaneously.
bullet The characters are several years older in “Love Story”
The two stories are very similar. The only real difference other than age (Jenny was 25, Jamie was 18) was the issue of faith. Jamie had faith in God: “It’s like the wind, I can’t seeit, but I can feel it.” Jenny had faith in other people: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Oh, and there is pre-maratal sex in Love Story. There wasn’t in AWTR.

Other than that the stories are very similar. Both stories had a young couple who fell in love and got married. Both stories had the female character die. Both stories had the male character astranged from his father who eventually came through.

It’s interesting that you bring this up. An early draft of the script for AWTR read a lot like Love Story;

Love Story: “What can I say about a 25 year old girl who died? That she loved Mozart, and Bach, and Beatles . . . and me.”

AWTR Early Script: “You’d think that all the people here [Beaufort] were friendly, welcoming, open-minded . . . and that money or family background or education or luck didn’t matter. But they did matter. They mattered to everyone except Jamie Sullivan . . . Astronomer. Actress. Believer in God. . . Believer in Me.”

Eery isn’t it.

 

 

How are “Love Story” and AWTR similar?

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How are “Love Story” and AWTR similar?

bullet Both stories are tragic romances where the female character dies.
bullet Both movies have the female character have a profound effect on the others in her life before she dies.
bullet Both movies have the characters get married

What Is “Love Story”?

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Love Story Cover

Love Story cover

Love Story is a well known romance movie made by Paramount Pictures in 1970. It Starred Ali MacGraw as Jenny Cavalleri, Ryan O’Neil as Oliver Barrett IV,  John Marley as Phil Cavalleri, and Ray Milland as Oliver Barrett III. It was written by Eric Segal (who simultaneously wrote a book version) and directed by Arthur Hiller. It surpassed all box office expectations and was Paramount’s most successful movie ever (to that date), and continues to be very popular.

The opening line of the movie is “What can I say about a 25-year old girl who died? That she loved Mozart, and Bach, and Beatles, and Me?” As you can tell this one doesn’t have a happy ending.

The story chronicles the two lead characters as they meet in college (he’s attending Harvard and she’s attending nearby Vassar — these are the days when both schools were single sex) through several years of marriage.

The story shows sacrificial love as Jenny gives up her own educational plans to support Oliver in his. When the couple has problems conceiving a child they get medical exams that uncover that Jenny is very sick. Her illness is never named but it appears to be Leukemia or some other form of cancer. Jenny dies of the disease but not until after she has a profound effect on Oliver and the others in her life.

The movie is probably most well known for the line “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”