Today, May 10th to be exact, my husband and I are celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary. It’s been a tremendous blessings to spend nearly a decade together, and y’know what, being married is a blast! We’ve been together seven years before that, so in all honesty, I really can’t imagine life without Ivan.
Alas, there aren’t a whole lot of movies that celebrate marriage in Hollywood, those that portray ’em realistically or in a good light are a few and far in between. But leave it to Pixar to create a beautiful and profound picture of what it means to ‘ stick together through thick and thin, in sickness and in health…. ’til death do us part‘ in this four-minute montage. It’s such an amazing-ly done scene and the music by Michael Giacchino complements it perfectly. You’d be hard-pressed to find a dry set of eyes at the end of this scene.
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The tearjerker opening scene from UP shows the now aging widower Carl reminiscing on the good ‘ol times he shared with his wife Ellie and as you can see, it’s not always a picture of marital bliss. But the real beauty is how they shared every moment of sorrow, disappointment, as well as happiness together, and through it all, they still love and enjoy each other’s company. Just like Carl was to Ellie, my hubby is not only the love of my life, but he’s also my best friend. I don’t know exactly the secret of a lasting marriage is, but as I often say to my single friends… ‘Marry not just the one you love, but the one you LIKE spending tons of time together with.’
My prayers to you all, whether married or single, is that when love finds you, you’ll do your best to cherish it.
Dear readers, did you enjoy this scene? And if you know of great movies/scenes that celebrate marriage, please share in the comments.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Happy happy anniversary! Love you!
Love you, too, dahling 😀
‘ze blogger’s hubby’!! hahahahha that was funny!
That clip from UP is my favorite from the film (that and the final image in the film). Wonderful post for what I’m sure is a wonderful day for you and yours. Happiest of Wedding Anniversaries, rtm.
p.s., in case you’re interested, from a veteran of 22 years of marriage, I wrote an anniversary love letter in the guise of a movie review awhile ago you might like.
Thanks for sharing that awesome post, Michael, makes me want to see that film again. Wow, 22 years? Woot, woot! I think marriage rocks, no matter what the media portray it to be.
Wow congrats and happy anniversary!
Thanks Castor!
Congratulations guys. That is a really lovely post. I hope we make it as long as you two. I totally agree I have married my best friend too. X
Hello Mrs. Custard… he..he.. thank you for stopping by, how sweet of you! How long have you and Scott been married? I think marrying your best mate is the way to go, isn’t it? 😀 It’s definitely a blessing I won’t take for granted.
er we have been married 7 years now, been together for 10 years.
Its weird as we always say that it only feels like we have been together for a couple of weeks.
Marriage can be hard at times, testing and soul searching. But it is the best decision we have ever made. Lynette, as Ivan is to you, is my soul mate. Partner in Crime. The only person that would put up with me and my terrible faults.
Congratulations you two. I hope you had a great day and spoilt each other rotten!!
All our Love
Custard and Apple Pie….aka Scott and Lyn
I agree, I think Ruth has picked up on an important distinction here that goes some way to understanding the positive reaction to the very touching montage above. I was watching a documentary recently on the life and loves of Elizabeth Taylor and at the end they had some of her freinds give testimonials about her. Granted Liza Minelli was never married to Ms Taylor but she did say something which I think captures the idea of friendship in marriage very nicely. She said: “I loved Elizabeth, but more than that, I liked her. She was so funny, she made me laugh’. Like Ruth says in her post, “the real beauty is how they shared every moment of sorrow, disappointment, as well as happiness together, and through it all, they still love and enjoy each other’s company.” I can relate to this in my marriage. We’ve had a difficult couple of days over the past week but through it we have enjoyed eachother’s company and because of that were able to see the funny side of most things and to laugh through the tears. And isn’t that what it’s all about? To (as Charlie Chaplin aptly put it) ‘smile when you feel like crying!’. Great Post Ruth. And Happy Anniversary again to you both.
Happy anniversary.
Tom and Jerri from Mike Leigh’s ‘Another Year’ is another wonderful example of a happy cinematic marriage, but then that’s the furthest thing from a Hollywood movie.
Thanks Rich. I’ve been meaning to see ‘Another Year.’ Have header only great things about it and I like Jim Broadbent’s work.
Tom and Jerri fromn ‘Another Year’ is a great couple. Laid back, down to earth and so in love with each other! You sould definitely watch it Ruth, it’s a lovely simple film.
Happy anniversary!
Great movie 🙂
Thanks Lesya. This is truly my fave part of the whole movie.
Awww, congratulations!
Thanks Sam, you and Andrew have been married for about the same time, no?
We’ll be 6 years in October. 🙂 Time flies when you’re (mostly) having fun!
PS- Wanna meet a really cute baby sometime during the first week of June? Let me know!
Thanks for sharing that awesome post, Michael, makes me want to see that film again. Wow, 22 years? Woot, woot! I think marriage rocks, no matter what the media portray it to be.
Wow, and to think it was a whole year ago when I picked you up from the airport after your anniversary trip to London… time flies! Wishing you both the very best ;-D
Thanks Becky! We definitely have a much more mellow anniversary celebration this time around, but still meaningful nonetheless.
Happy anniversary!
And good scene choice.
Thank you Julian, appreciate your comment, as always.
Happy anniversary Ruth and hubby! That’s great!
Thank you T!
8 years! Wonderful! My best wishes to you and Ivan. Apart from Up, how else are you celebrating the occasion?
I’m currently celebrating my fourth WEEK of marriage! So far it doesn’t feel any different apart from the ring on my finger and the possible consideration of getting a dog. It’ll be like Marley and Me (one of Hannah’s favourite films, I might add).
But you’re so right about finding not only someone you love but someone you love spending time with. That is so true.
Thanks Dan! Oh, we’re keeping it mellow, we took a day off so we had lunch together in one of our fave restaurants.
Oh you’re still a newlywed!! I didn’t know that… so your wife’s name is Hannah, what a lovely name. That’s cool that you’re considering getting a pet, I used to have one when I was growing up but now it’s kinda challenging as we both work full time.
Wow! Happy anniversary! And what a great way to celebrate! 🙂
Thanks Wulan, appreciate you stopping by.
Congratulation Ruth and Ivan 🙂
It still makes me smile thinking about the story you told me … the one about you met your husband in US and turned out he was living near you when you were still in Indonesia 😉
Jodoh memang di Tangan Tuhan
He..he.. yes we seem fated to be together the fact that we meet thousands of miles from where we live and we actually went to the same Jr High!
Btw, kalau boleh tanya… kamu udah nikah? Emang bener jodoh di tangan Tuhan, setuju banget 🙂
Same Jr high too? hahaha faith is really funny sometime.
Belum tuh 🙂 masih menunggu pria yg tepat.
Congratulations, and a very happy Anniversary to you and your guy, Ruth! You picked a good one to celebrate with. That opening scene is absolutely magical.
Thanks Richard, magical is the word!
Happy Anniversary Ruth! 8 years, wow! That is good going. Hope the next 8 are as happy as the last. We are still in Italy. Supposed to have been home on Tuesday but we missed our flight and have had to extend our holiday for an extra week at considerable cost. My wallet will need a holiday after this 🙂 Hope somebody hires me as a full time film critic soon! Anyway, we were celebrating our 2nd anniversary here aswell and then everything went a bit ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ on us (not that I’m comparing sleeping beside my wife to sharing a single bed with John Candy… ‘See that Bears game last week?’) but I suppose that’s life. You gotta take the ‘UP’s with the ‘CARS’ right? By the way, that montage is one of my favourite in any PIXAR movie I’ve seen. Great celebratory post, your husband is a lucky man Ruth.
@ Ronan and Irina … you both are soooo sweet to leave me comments from Italy! Oh boy, you missed your flight?? Oy, hope your boss or bosses are ok that you have to take extra time off… yeah, Italy isn’t cheap, I feel for you both, but I suppose there are worse places to be stuck in.
Y’know we celebrated our 6th anniversary in Italy as well a couple of years back. It’s such a romantic country… did you make it to Cinque Terre as well? It’s really gorgeous up there, the antithesis of the loud and busy Rome!
Thanks for the well-wishes, I pray that you both will enjoy your marriage for as long as you both shall live! 😀
That is very kind of you to say Ruth, thank you. It was a bit stressful but we enjoyed our second week nonetheless, the weather was fantastic. We didn’t make it to Cinque Terre but we did see the city from the top of St. Peter’s basilica and I went down into the catacombs of St. Callixtus which was a memorable experience, though Ira was a bit creeped out by the thought of it so she stayed above ground. Thanks again Ruth for your kind wishes, wishing you and your husband many more years of wedded bliss. You are in our prayers. 🙂
Before I forget, I’m sure Julian has mentioned it to you but he and I are doing a blogothon entitled: Does the filmmaker have a moral responsibility? It goes live on June 29th so there is plenty of time for people to prepare their posts. Any help you could give in promoting it Ruth would be a big help. Thank you in advance, Ronan. 🙂
Happy Anniversary Ruth and ‘ze blogger’s hubby’!! It’s fantastic that you are happy and still very much in love with each other.
Great post. You couldn’t have picked a better scene. It’s is definitely the best part of the whole film.
‘ stick together through thick and thin, in sickness and in health…’til death do us part‘
I feel like crying now..
Congrats!!!!
Love that scene and I agree, not that many movies show marriage for what it really is, it’s all romanticized (not that I would know what it is :P)
Thank you Andrew… no you’re right, not a lot of movies depict marriage realistically. If we’re to believe what Hollywood put out there, the message seems to be stay away from marriage… which is not only a bad message, but inaccurate as well.
Sarah Polley’s “Take This Waltz” – is kind of a marriage noir movie, but the scenes between the main character and her (spoiler alert denied) ________ husband are utterly sweet. (Sweet is not quite right, but you have to see it to know – it captures the crazy, lonely, funny, maddening, alienating, warm, affirming aspects of marriage). In fact, it is the strength of their marital relationships that make the rest of the plot. Congratulations on your 8 + 7 years together!