The "HAPPILY EVER AFTER" that WE ALL KNOW.

A man remembers a lot of things you wouldn't think he would remember. Me, for one.
One day in 1896 I was crossing to Jersey on the Ferry. And as we sailed another Ferry was coming back.
On it there was a girl waiting to get off. She had a white dress on. And she had a white parasol.
I only saw her for a second. She didn't even notice me.
But I can bet that not a month has gone by. In which I haven't thought about that girl.
Citizen Kane (1941)

Ideal love is only found in the conception of what could have been, it can only be impeccable when it becomes a memory; it is only the impossibility, the desire and the ephemeral creation of a memory based on an inaccessible moment, because it belongs to the past, that originates this singular experience. It is like a scent or a taste, an emotion difficult to express, but recognizable when looking out the car window while a specific song from those times past is playing or being in your room wrapped in a calm darkness. It is as if your chest, your stomach and your soul returned for a few moments to relive that forgotten present with that person. And it is ideal because you are certain that what could have been would have worked. The most memorable love movies remain in your memory because they capture that bittersweet contradiction between the unattainable and the desire of a past, they revive the spark that feeds that longing born from the pain of what is known cannot be. Because only what did not happen can reach perfection when examining the possibilities of a future that does not exist. That bittersweet pain seems genuine, it seems sincere. The happy ending isn't that profound, because it's not true and, honestly, you haven't experienced it. No one knows what happily ever after is, but we all understand the longing for what was.

This movie is a recent classic that overcomes every problem or challenge that exists in a relationship. It is a metaphor for love that is also strengthened by the unique way in which the movie is narrated by using the musical genre in an innovative way; it is a movie about dreams, but, more importantly, about how the people you meet along the way change you and how that memory endures over time from which you cannot escape. Love at an inappropriate time that is nevertheless appropriate.

Its opening song, like an ubiquitous narrator, has no connection to the rest of the film. It shows you the city in which the story will take place and, in turn, generates an expectation about this romantic and hopeful place, which also hints at what to expect from the narrative. It is set in a film of passionate dreamers trying to materialize a very particular project to fulfill their desires. Love in this melody is only a part of a larger purpose: dreams. As it will ultimately turn out to be for its characters. Equally, it is a song that symbolizes the group of this city. Each performer is a different narrative that converges and fades away without interest, as quickly as it appears on the screen. This city is full of stories that fade away in traffic, and the camera focuses its attention on the two main characters to conclude the sequence.

Just like its way of displaying the general, the environment, the context, the theme and focusing on the particular, the characters that populate the story and play a key role in it. This song reflects the vision of the film. It is an authentic affirmation that this narrative has faith in dreams, trusts in Los Angeles as the center of this search and believes, due to its optimistic nuances, in the triumph at the end of the rainbow. The sequence culminates with the two characters joining their paths in this interconnection of threads. In an irrelevant traffic incident as common as any other, since it is not even relevant to the film, except to mark a beginning in the two intertwined stories that emphasize the notion of the individual in his own journey against the big city and his complicity for the big city to exist, thus allowing us to recognize the fortuitous and the beautiful of their coincidence later. The value of the everyday is defined in contrast with the future value of the romantic and the improbable coincidence, which fits perfectly with the choice of presenting the two protagonists individually and episodically from the moment of the accident until they meet, instead of doing it alternately as would be more usual.

In this way, we meet a cafeteria worker at some studio in Hollywood who dreams and constantly seeks to make her way in the acting field, Mia. Her opening scene exposes her obstacles and the first opposition of the film that challenges the idealism of the introduction. It is a complicated, demanding dream, which continually wears down your self-esteem and induces you to question yourself. It proposes the notion of the audition as a shared place and space in the film where she will also confront her individual struggles. Finally, there she will solve her most significant crisis.

The next song, as vibrant, dynamic and optimistic as the first, suggests the development of Mia, a dreamer who is much more reserved than Sebastian, who enjoys showing her passion for jazz. She, on the other hand, is hesitant and seems to hesitate to follow her true desire in front of others. Returning to the second song, Mia's friends try to reveal her truth, actively pursuing the dream, taking her out of this intimate security, and that in the comfort of fantasy there is no room for disillusionment or falling. This also causes the sequence itself to present a conflict, when facing the stimuli of going out and confronting the world. Which, in some way, is the same impulse that Sebastian will exert on her, a necessary impulse. She trusts more in destiny than in action; she perceives beyond having faith and desiring a concrete goal, and instead, she trusts in an instant, in a place, in a period appropriate for her. And that something we know will be her path with Sebastian. The second song sets out the central idea of the film and what Mia requires, as well as the element that will drive her transformation.

When chance finally appears to start the story and reunite the characters, it manifests itself with a sound that will later be called the classic song of Mia and Sebastian, although due to its connotations and application in the script it could be considered the theme of destiny, since it is what drives their meeting.

The first prejudices towards Sebastian are much simpler than Mia's, but it is effective in showing the difference between the two. While Mia is a goal-oriented woman, who dreams with her eyes open and that is precisely what links to her great conflict throughout the film. The first thing we see about Sebastian is that he is really chasing an old jazz bar that has now become a samba and tapas place. He faces financial difficulties, remains anchored in the past, thinks that the world owes him something, is snobbish and is bitter about the lack of recognition of his music and his passion. If Mia is characterized by the company and color of a dreamer, Sebastian is characterized by the loneliness of a sad hermit. His house is white, flat, lacks paintings, furniture, decorations, it does not present anything that makes that apartment identify itself as belonging to Sebastian. Unlike Mia, whose house and room clearly express who she is and what her interests are as a dreamer. The only thing that defines Sebastian is his piano and his love of jazz, which at this point is not purposeful, but serves only to survive and assert his identity. And that becomes evident in the scene where he is fired, where he must perform Christmas carols, which results in a clear humiliation to the character's ego and he cannot help but, in order to retain a bit of his dignity, play a song even though it goes against his manager's wishes, even risking his job. However, it is from that stubbornness that the theme of Mia and Sebastian arises, the theme of chance. And it is that tenacity of Sebastian, of facing the world, precisely what Mia requires and what this character contributes to the relationship. In the same way, Mia provides Sebastian with strength, longing and a perspective towards the future instead of being carried away by sadness. At this point, the film has already defined the main idea about the relationship of its characters and what they will contribute later on.

The third musical act shows the special connection between the two characters, being in form, a traditional musical number, maintaining the choreography and filming without cuts and dynamics that have marked the previous musical numbers. However, it is in the lyrics where it transforms, instead of being a typical love song, it is an anti-love song, focusing on the lack of attraction and the mockery of the moment. However, this creates a more authentic chemistry than a perfect romantic scene, as well as a bond in the characters, who, by hiding their attraction, highlight it even more. At one point, the director takes care to frame the city in the shot reminding us that this is a story of the many threads that make up Los Angeles. This scene is also a turning point in the script, as it is the scene of the sparks of love, the moment of boy meets girl, but presented in a unique way in this story. From here, the two feel a need for each other, no longer casual but necessary to continue finding each other. This is how this relationship begins, in a sequence where each shares their respective passions as they get to know each other. Mia tells him about her dreams in acting, as well as the context of why she loves the world of film as they walk around her studio, which is the character’s environment, and Sebastian tells her about his love for jazz and live performance in his own environment, the bar. In both parts, the other’s personality begins to influence them, Sebastian’s stubbornness makes Mia rethink her insecurity and encourages her to feel good about herself and value herself, and Mia’s idealistic vision begins to motivate Sebastian to act more actively, as he is a character less prone to change due to his personality. The next song where Sebastian reflects on his loneliness in this city of stars, but also fears for his disappointment, walking alone in a sunset of violet and orange tones.

The second part of the film is called summer, that intermediate phase of the year that is related to heat, rest and is agreed upon by everyone as the emotional peak of the year, the best months. The ephemeral connection with the girl always happens in summer, the summer love in the far away town interrupted by the arrival of August occurs in summer. And this section of the film begins with a montage that illustrates a summer. Mia and Sebastian are a complicit couple who enjoy the city of LA and their time together. To show how they complement each other, there is a longer scene in this montage where they are in the bar that Sebastian likes, while he plays jazz on the piano and Mia dances to the rhythm. The two shots that show their complicity and mutual complement are those that integrate the two characters in the composition and movement. With a shot that presents the two characters in complicity to create the musical moment between Sebastian's solo and Mia accompanying the band with their dance solo.

Part two progresses independently of Part one and becomes an almost completely different film. The abstractness of the musical is toned down and completely relegated from the elements to tell the story, even if they use music it stops being fantastic and is now completely diegetic, that is, real, sung and played on screen within the coherence of fiction. The film becomes a much more typical love story with conflicts, this whole increasing succession of dramatic scenes that show the seams in Mia and Sebastian's relationship lasts about 30 minutes until its boiling point and breaking point.

In the following scene, the conflict that will be the second part is exposed. Both alter their lives according to their personal projects. Sebastian signs a contract that eventually separates the couple, turning off the music of their relationship. It is the individual paths of each character that originate this conflict, ironically encouraged by each one to the other to follow it. Sebastian is in the band because of Mia and Mia creates her work thanks to Sebastian in a way that is both motivating and economic, since by signing with the band she can stop working. In this tangle of forces where each character is directed thanks to the other, we must rescue from this tragic and involuntary result in the couple that, by following their dreams and encouraging each other to improve, end up separating because the results of those incentives do not favor them as a couple.

From this inevitable conclusion in their paths arises something that transcends their breakup and their relationship as boyfriends. All this block in which Sebastian insists and makes her believe as when they met culminates in a transformation of their relationship closure, where both accept their respective paths and that these cannot coexist together, but they also find peace for having loved each other. Mia thus overcomes her insecurity and has an audition for the first time from the authenticity that defines her and not from comparison and superficiality, and evidently gets the role, concluding her character arc and with that her "flash" in life that was having met Sebastian.

A casual outing with her husband leads to a decision that will cause a coincidence. This outcome has the strength it possesses and the permanence in the collective memory because it encompasses that message of the immaculate capsule in time, the only place where perfection resides, in dreams and the ceilings of the rooms at midnight when you cannot rest. That scene is a parenthesis within the film itself, an instant that breaks time, space and reality to experience that dream created by the threads that once united this couple, and thus we observe the perfection of their imagination in an impeccable montage and like all great films that understand love as we live it, it tells us that we'll always have Paris.