On the Eleventh Day of a Feminine Christmas

This may not look like a Christmas image, at least not in the way you’ve come to expect from A Lovely Inconsequence. But let me explain.

The photograph is of Meryl Streep in the 1984 film Falling in Love. I count this movie among my Christmas staples—not one I watch every year, perhaps, but one I return to from time to time.

When Falling in Love was released, audiences were not especially kind to it. They couldn’t quite reconcile how two people, played by Streep and Robert De Niro, could leave their perfectly nice spouses for one another. Setting that discomfort aside, the film quite literally begins and ends at Christmas. The holiday frames the story, quietly bookending this crisp, visually beautiful 1980’s film.

Watching it now, I’m struck by how much I enjoy the world as it once was—quiet commuters on a morning train, dressed well and behaving well. Restaurants without endless gimmicks and noise. A New York City I recognize and understand.

But back to this photograph—and with the lightest hint of a spoiler. Here is Meryl just before embarking on the evening train, dressed in her Christmas finery after a day of holiday shopping in the city, much as she had done the year before. She wears a silk blouse, a crocheted vest, and a very traditional Christmas brooch—a wreath (and honestly, that pin deserves a post all its own, don’t you think?).

If you’ve seen the film, you may agree with me that Meryl never looked more beautiful than she does on this late-night Christmas train, where she finally meets her destiny. I’ll say no more.

It’s a Christmas movie.