A movie that really gets its love triangle right

Love triangles are a common trope in both literary fiction and cinema. More often than not, love triangles are just an excuse for lazy dramatic tension, because it’s usually obvious which partner the character can stay with. While love triangles are often a fun way to hook an audience, the dramatic stakes of a love triangle rarely feel like a realistic take on a real relationship. However, if done right, the notion of choosing between two different romantic partners can be an effective source of dramatic tension. Great period of 2015 Brooklyn shows how two romantic partners can represent different sides of a character’s personality; Choosing one potential suitor over another forces the protagonist to choose between two very different cultures.

Brooklyn

An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls in love with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between the two countries and the lives that exist within.

Publication date

October 20, 2015

runtime

105

Hand gender

drama

The authors

Nick Hornby, Colm Toibin

Studio

Fox Searchlight Pictures

What is ‘Brooklyn’?

Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn Centers on a young Irish girl, Elise Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), who is caught between two potential suitors; Italian boy Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) and Irish bachelor Jim Farrell (Domhnall Gleeson). Eilis was raised in Ireland but immigrated to the United States while still in his early teens. This immediately creates a challenge for her to understand what an authentic relationship should look like. The traditional “family values” that she was taught when she was young are quite different from how the “court” operates in the state. The United States values ​​dating as a casual pastime; In Ireland, she was raised to expect to spend the rest of her life with someone she saw romantically.

Due to her unorthodox upbringing, Ellis finds it challenging to connect with other young people. Although she finds a small Irish community in Brooklyn upon her arrival, Elise finds it challenging to find people her own age who can relate to her experiences. The Irish community in Brooklyn consisted primarily of older religious leaders; Even while working at her job, she is constantly surrounded by elderly shoppers. While this initially makes Elise feel like she is alone, everything changes after she is introduced to Tony after an Irish cultural festival. Tony claims that while he is not Irish himself, he “really likes Irish girls.” Given how well he treats Elise on their first few dates, his comment can be taken as a genuine statement, and not just a pick-up line.

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Even though they come from different communities, Tony and Elise have a lot in common; Given the discrimination that both Irish and Italian immigrants faced during the 1950s, Both characters know that he is treated as a “second-class citizen”. More importantly, spending time with Tony and his Italian family gives Ilis a chance to feel like she’s at home once again. While Toni’s family has traditions that differ from how she was raised, they still value their ancestral past and treat the elder members of their community with respect. Even as Elise learns new things as a result of her relationship with Tony (including the nuances of eating spaghetti), the value that family plays in her life reminds her of her own upbringing.

Learning and adapting to Tony’s worldview forces Eilis to stay on her toes and learn more about the new country she is now a part of. Just when Eilis feels she has carved out a new identity for herself, she receives the devastating news that her mother, Mary (Jane Brennan), has died unexpectedly from a devastating illness. It is not easy to return home to mourn this loss; The boat trip is long and messy, and forces Eilis to reconsider the value of her life. A trip home to Ireland meant introducing her to feelings, places and traditions she had long left behind. Unfortunately, returning to her hometown also reminds Alice of how much she misses Ireland, which may mean leaving Tony behind.

Elise’s two suitors in ‘Brooklyn’ represent her dual identity

director John Crowley Does a great job of making Brooklyn Feels like both a coming-of-age story and a classic romance. While the initial flirtation between Ilis and Tony (and later, between Ilis and Jim) feels a lot like many young adult romantic dramas, the tension is not entirely injected to add melodrama to the story. Her two suitors represent the two very different lives she can lead. Is it American, or Irish? While Eilis is bound by culture to both countries, she can only spend the rest of her life in one of them.

After her arrival in Ireland, Eilis begins to reconnect with her community, learning things about her mother that were kept from her when she was young. Although the journey is mostly miserable, Ellis finds himself nostalgic for his homeland. New York City was exciting, but it was also an overwhelming experience where she was always forced to try new things. Home is comfort; Even if she’s managed to adapt to her lifestyle living in Brooklyn, she’s still an Irish girl at heart. Coincidentally, as Elise wonders what a future in Ireland might hold, she is introduced to a man who just might be able to give it to her.

On the surface, Jim seems the opposite of Tony; Jim was raised in the community of Ellis and knows their traditions well. The film does a great job of showing how different the two men are by how they are initially introduced to Eilis. When Tony manages to slip into a traditional Irish dance to impress Ilis, Jim is introduced to Ilis through a formal dance ceremony. Tony is the type of person that the elder members of Alice’s community may have warned her about, but Jim is considered a “catch” who can give Ilis a traditional marriage.

The bright side of BrooklynA love triangle is one in which two men never come into contact with each other; There is never a ridiculous scene where they fight over Ilis because they are on opposite sides of the ocean. Neither character is trying to upstage the other, and Brooklyn forcing the audience to make the same difficult choices that Ellis does. She ends up with Tony, choosing to live the rest of her life in America. That’s not to say that thoughts of what a life with Jim would be like don’t linger in Elise’s and the audience’s minds long after she’s made the decision.

Brooklyn Available to stream on Max in the US

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