Ages of Love



So, two items about celebrities made me think about love and aging: first, there's an extensive "Woody Allen at 70" interview in the upcoming Vanity Fair, parts of which are discussed in this BBC News article.
"All the crap they tell you about... getting joy and having a kind of wisdom in your golden years - it's all tripe," said Allen, who turns 70 on 1 December.

"I've gained no insight, no mellowing. I would make the same mistakes again."
Actually, Woody has always seemed prematurely old to me, so why would he do anything differently, right? But it's a good line. Anyway, Woody does talk about his relationship with Soon-Yi, which creeped me out at the time (well, about as much as news about celebs who one has zero personal connection with can skeeze anyone out) - even beyond the whole dating-the-stepdaughter-of-your-partner thing, 35 years is a huge age difference. I mean, if I were to date someone 35 years younger than me, I would have to start by arranging for her would-be parents to meet...

Come to think of it, 35 years wasn't even the age gap between Isaac (played by Allen) and Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) in Manhattan, and that was already meant to be a creepy age gap: "She's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17. I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father."

But the relationship has, to its credit, lasted 8 years - an eternity in pairings involving celebrities - and that to me seems like love. Even if he is quoted as saying his relationship has "a more paternal feeling to it", a comment which brought a bit of the skeezy feeling back.

Meanwhile, in the New York Post, columnist Andrea Peyser notes approvingly about Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles visiting the US: "Buckingham Palace has traded in its resident high drama, depression and bulimia for laugh lines, liver spots and middle-age spread." (Technically, that should be Clarence House instead of Buckingham Palace, I think, given that we're talking about Charles, but I suppose that doesn't havethe same zing.) Hey - the drama of Di may sell copies of People magazine (Lord knows I've read countless issues with her on the cover, even post-1997), and Camilla will never dance with Travolta in the White House, but there does seem to be something about the quiet comfort of the royal couple.

Which is to say, one comes back to Tracy's indelible line in Manhattan, filled with wisdom beyond her years: "Not everybody gets corrupted. You have to have a little faith in people."

Edit: my lousy math - man, so Woody and Soon-Yi are even greater apart in years than Isaac and Tracy.

Comments

7-8 said…
Nice article but if you were 42, and you dated somebody 35 yrs your junior, she would be 7, not 17. Now I usually have a strong stomach but in this case I wouldn't even want to think about it.
2 November 2005 at 14:42
Anonymous said…
Great piece of writing!
2 November 2005 at 16:59
7-8 said…
That's fine, after all the math abilities are usually the first to get affected by sleep deprivation. Hur hur hur.
5 November 2005 at 12:19
Daryl said…
Thanks beba and 7-8.
5 November 2005 at 22:15
Anonymous said…
Nice writing, but one thing. Love is love. There is nothing wrong with an older man, even 40 years older, loving a younger woman, nor vice versa, an older woman with a younger man. We must get beyond this age illusion, the love and caring is what is important, it is not all about orgasms and tits and sucking cock. It's about love. Skinship. Think about ThAT!
18 November 2005 at 23:02
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