looking at the window of lady love

22nd September '07

In the movie "Cinema Paradiso" young Toto falls in love for the first time and in a dialogue with him, his father-friend figure Alfredo tells him a story.

The story is about a beautiful princess. Actually it's more about a common soldier who falls in love with this princess and tells her. The princess is touched by his honesty and asks him to wait beneath her window for 100 days and if he succeeds, she'd be his. So much in love, he waits and waits. Bees sting him, it rains, wind blows..it's difficult after all...day in and day out for 100 days and 100 nights, relentlessly.

Meanwhile the princess watches him, looks at him. In around 90 days, the guy feels something and tears stream down his face, and on the 99th night he leaves. Just leaves. Why?

Toto tried the 'beneath the window' tactic...and left too, to find his love come running into his arms. he was lucky?Maybe?

But was the prince lucky? Or was the soldier in the story lucky? Did the princess come into his arms? Or did she not. Did he fall out of love with her? Did he realise, just the moment before he was going to get rewarded for love, and his proof of love...that he didn't want to prove it.

Maybe what he really wanted was to be loved as a normal person, whose depth of love could be a mystery, not proven. could be deeper than the 100-day test.

What was the soldier thinking? What did he realise on the 99th day?

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