Reverence For Lasting Love

We’ve wondered what makes our very different little film about lasting love work. It seems that the several voices in the film weave an almost impressionistic dream of reverence for love that lasts.

These several voices include those of the couples featured, each partner’s dedication to their relationship evident. We hear their accumulation of deep acceptance and understanding of one another, and of their relationship. It is their humanness that moves and inspires us; imperfect like all of ours, and yet, as the narrators express: These partners have “learned from gutting it out, staying engaged, working it out, and digging deeper” which has led to them making ”exquisite discoveries” about themselves and each other, and the nature of loving one another.

Our two narrator’s voices add dimensions of sympathetic wisdom toward love stories that are grown over time. Their tender voices speak to what is universal in making love last. Their voices speak of rhythms and repair, of uncertainty and accomplishment, of trust and regret, of shattering and sacredness; and to the “unshakable reality of love that is time tested–grown deeper and richer than either could have imagined”.

The next voice is the voice of struggle, expressed in the short, non-verbal dramatizations of the young couple, falling out of connection and finding their way back to each other. We are evoked by the voice of their struggles because we know these struggles in our own hearts and bones.

We’ve been gratified to learn from viewer feedback that our film succeeds in its mission of providing inspiration, understanding, and a positive sense for couples that love can really last and grow. The film can inspire discussion in high school and college family life education courses, and in marital enrichment programs. It can be a useful tool for couple therapists to share with couples who’ve had little exposure to lasting love. It can be a fine, supportive expression of love as an engagement or wedding present.

Note: Over the years of developing this project we invited couples to tell stories about how they saw their love growing stronger over the years. Their interviews were voluntary and not part of a research project or clinical process. We just looked for couples who could share their version of how they arrived at long lasting love in the ordinary and everyday way love grows through sharing a life together.

Thanking you for your interest,

Robert Ogner on behalf of Sondra Goldstein, Susan Thau, Nancy Gardner and  the entire “Living Love That Lasts” Team