Okay, now it makes sense.

One of the movie endings that has always completely irked me is the ending of Cast Away, after Tom Hanks character Chuck Noland is finally found at sea and returned home. He meets up with Kelly Frears, Helen Hunt's character, and there's an awkward moment. He is the love of her life, but, well, life is complicated. She wants to go to him, but doesn't, she can't. She walks away, he walks away.

I've always railed at that part of the story. If he is the love of her life, she would GO TO HIM. She would. How could she not? The love of her life! The one who understands everything, the one who listens, the one she wanted to grow old with, the one she told all her secrets to, who held her during those moments of pain, who waited for him, searched for him, couldn't speak when he finally returned - in the real world OF COURSE she would choose him.

In the movie, she doesn't, and it's always pissed me off.

You know, life sometimes throws you a curve ball. You're out looking for one thing, you find another, and then, THEN, you finally understand. Those moments of understanding suck. Sometimes you don't get to follow your heart. Sometimes the life you have is just complicated enough that, you know what? You don't get to be with that one person who made you whole.

You just don't.

And that ending suddenly makes a lot more sense.

• Log in to read full content