Shopgirl

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Steve Martin)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

While not everyone may notice it, I am a person who is greatly affected by the movies I watch. I think about them hours after their credits have rolled. Their stories and questions migrate between my heart and my mind for days after I have left the theater. And, in some cases, when a movie hits closer to home than usual, I am thrown up or down to an extent from which it is difficult to return to normal.

Yesterday, I was finally able to see the movie Shopgirl. Ever since I read Steve Martin’s book, I knew I had to see it. I identified with Mirabelle the shopgirl more than I have ever identified with any other fictional character. And yesterday, after I met her on the big screen, I cried to the point that my hands began to go numb. I cried until my legs shook. I cried until I could not cry anymore. To put it simply, Shopgirl affected me big time.

The movie Shopgirl is about a young woman named Mirabelle and her relationships with two different men. One is the older wealthy Ray Porter. The other, the more age appropriate slacker Jeremy. In many ways, the story is about relationships, about men, and about the different courses a relationship can take. Jeremy amuses us with a plethora of dating faux pas and stumbling attempts to make a good impression. Ray makes us almost forget the huge age difference between him and Mirabelle with his politeness, concern, and generosity. Much more than a story about the men Mirabelle dates, however, Shopgirl is foremost a story about Mirabelle.

As Ray introduces Mirabelle, she is a shopgirl who sells things that no one uses anymore. Every day is no more than a repetition of the same motions over and over again—biding time behind a glove counter, driving back to an empty home, going to sleep, and starting over again. Mirabelle also battles depression and has for a very long time. As Ray’s introductory voiceover tells us, Mirabelle is woman who needs an omniscient voice to tell her she is of value, this one here, Mirabelle.

While the movie does not deal with Mirabelle’s depression as much as the book, the story that unfolds touches on the issue; and, through Mirabelle’s relationships with Ray and Jeremy, it paints a picture of many of the holes depression makes anyone who suffers from it long to fill.

In the beginning of the movie, Mirabelle listens to a radio show that talks about how women long to be held. Later, as she sits alone in her apartment, we can almost see that longing circulating through her heart as she digs around for the Jeremy’s thrown out phone number and calls him back for a clearly undeserved second date.

But then Ray Porter comes along and holds her in the way she needs to be held. Mirabelle begins to bloom with attention. Although she never asks him why he picked her, the fact that he did silently states that she must be special. His gifts to her tell her that something about her makes her worth it. And their nights together give her and many of those around her the impression that she truly has something of value.

Through both of her relationships, we see Mirabelle’s desire to be loved, to be valued, and to be cared for. Sometimes those desires are satisfied and sometimes they are disappointed. At points, it seems Mirabelle knows that she is filled with value. At other times, it is clear that finding value is never as simple as just medication, just attention, or almost any one thing alone.

By the movie’s end, however, Mirabelle does find what seems to be a life filled with much more meaning and value. She is able to create the art she had been gifted to create. She is loved by man who, as Ray describes it, is tender and true. Mirabelle seems to know that she is indeed a person of value, and with just that, the movie cannot help but have an ending that makes you smile.

From its beginning to its end, Shopgirl is hilarious, entertaining, intelligent, and touching. For me, however, the Shopgirl that I connected to was also heart-wrenching. Yes, it was happy story with happy ending. But, the story was also realistic; and, as anyone knows, real happiness is never as perfect as we wish it would be. Happiness is very often extrememly difficult to find. Happiness when found is never a pass to effortless contentment for the rest of life. And, when depression lies in the past, present, and/or future, happiness will always have a certain awareness of its opposite just a stone's throw in any direction.

I may not be Mirabelle. I certainly have no romantic stories resembling hers. But, as I watched Shopgirl, I could feel every emotion of hers going through me. Like Mirabelle, I too am shopgirl. I sell books that no one reads anymore. And, connecting me to Mirabelle at the heart, I too have struggled with depression for many years.

As I watched Mirabelle trying to fill the holes depression had created in her, I could not help but think how hard those holes are to fill and how many people struggle so much to fill them. I knew every question that circulated through her body—questions about her value, her purpose, and even her existence as someone who merits love. I identified with her struggle to find her creativity. And, watching her try to navigate through both her personal and professional life, I knew that what she was doing was far from simple, far from fun, and most certainly filled with fears of doing things for the wrong reasons, missing opportunities, and finally finding something to hold onto only to watch it crumble before her eyes.

It was hard for me to watch Mirabelle knowing what was going on inside her. It was difficult to watch knowing that so many people have to deal with depression every single day. Luckily for me, Shopgirl’s ending refused to let me dwell on that forever. While it may have taken me some time, the story that I saw unfold in Mirabelle's life cannot help but make me hope that all of us can find lives of meaning and value. And, as Mirabelle finds, in that pursuit, we need not be alone.

As the intersecting freeways of the movie’s opening and closing indicate, life is filled with a multitude of merges, exits, intersections, and connections. Each connection we make gives all of us a chance to touch others with a love that is true. When we meet, we have the opportunity to hold each other and tell each other how special we are. And, even if we only travel a short distance together, we all have the chance to leave everyone we meet with a kind action or word.

As I sit here a full twenty-four hours after seeing Shopgirl, I know that I will probably keep thinking about it for at least several more days. I will think about Mirabelle and her search for happiness. I will think about what she went through and the things she found. I will hope that there actually is an omniscient voice out there trying to tell me and everyone like me that we are of value, these ones right here. I will cross my fingers that, like Mirabelle, I and everyone living in this world will hear the truth that tells us we are valuable and see the relationships and opportunities that will help us to see why. And I will pray that even in the darkest of times, we will see the truth of love, the truth of value, and the truth of purpose that has been with us since God first knew we would be.

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Steve Martin)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads