Of course, the above interpretation of events differs markedly from the account recorded in the titular notebook - hardly surprising, since the notebook was written by Allie herself. (There’s also a scene in which Allie’s hurt and bewildered fiancé responds with heroic forbearance to this betrayal.) In a larger sense, there’s nothing remotely cautionary or critical here the drama seems to side solidly with the young lovers. That’s about as close as The Notebook gets to connecting Allie and Noah’s cheerful carnality in any particular way to any moral principles.

(In a welcome departure from cliché, the luckless fiancé, played by James Marsden of the X-Men movies, actually seems to be both a good guy and a good catch.) Small wonder she decides to take a trip down memory lane, and winds up energetically making up for all that lost time, until Noah is plumb exhausted and can’t move until she gets up and makes him flapjacks.Ī bit later, finally starting to come to grips with the necessity of choosing between her fiancé and her lover, Allie is told by her mother, “You knew what you were doing.” Allie’s oddly non sequitur reply is: “So I’m a tramp, is that it?” Perhaps this is the reply of a guilty conscience the obvious answer would seem to be, “Well, dear, if the shoe fits…”

Small wonder, years later, when she learns what he’s done, that she begins to have second thoughts about the dashing and well-to-do but perhaps not quite as hopelessly romantic fiancé she’s acquired in the interim. This naturally calls for a romantic picturesque gesture, which Noah provides in grand style first by sending Allie 365 letters every day for the next year, then by obsessively restoring that manor home as a monument to his undying love for her. (You might think there was some subtle point being made here about their inappropriate intimacy precipitating deeper conflict, but I’d be willing to bet that that thought is a lot deeper than this story.)Īt this point Allie’s parents, who are from old Southern money and have never approved of dirt-poor Noah, contrive to separate the quarreling lovers. One night they decide to go all the way in a quaintly dilapidated old manor home that Noah wants to restore hours later they’re breaking up with much shouting and smacking. Allie and Noah have a very physical relationship even when Allie’s not smacking him, they can hardly keep their hands off one another.Īs their relationship progresses, Allie and Noah just keep on doing the same three things, but on an ever-increasing scale.

Getting way too forward with one another physically.

Allie and Noah quarrel a lot, to the point that she starts smacking him when she gets angry enough. See Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams) lie in the middle of a darkened intersection watching the traffic light change, then scramble for safety when a car comes! See Allie enjoying post-coital oil painting in the nude, wrapped in a sheet on the porch!

Doing cute / stupid / romantic / picturesque things.

Directed by Nick Cassavetes ( John Q) from the tearjerker by Catholic novelist Nicholas Sparks ( A Walk to Remember), The Notebook is about a couple whose budding relationship consists basically of three things: Right there is Allie and Noah in a nutshell.

Cast of the notebook