When I was 33 a young woman who’d just entered college told me that I absolutely HAD to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. She was so certain that I would love it that she brought me her own copy and insisted that I start it right away. She was right. I loved it. It’s one of the best coming-of-age novels I’ve ever read. Fast forward ten years later. A 40-year-old man tells me that I absolutely HAVE to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. That I would love it. I’m not sure what that says about me, but it’s interesting.
Last weekend I finally watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie, and I absolutely loved it. The cool thing about this book-to-film adaptation is that you actually get to see the author’s intended vision come to life. Stephen Chbosky wrote the novel, wrote the screenplay, and directed the film. This is extremely rare. The last scene of the movie is one of the best endings I’ve seen in a long time – this voiceover set to David Bowie’s Heroes.
“I know these will all be stories some day, and our pictures will become old photographs.”
“We all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here, and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
In the novel, the song was Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. Although this changes the mood, it works in the film. Here’s a great Vanity Fair Q & A with Stephen Chbosky about why he decided to change the song. I don’t think the ending of the movie would have been nearly as powerful if he’d used Landslide. Music changes everything.
When I watched the last scene through tear-filled eyes, I thought about Brian, my late brother, and our shared group of tight-knit friends. How we all felt infinite…until the day that we weren’t. I thought about my son, and how mothers both celebrate and mourn the passing of time. That’s always been hard for me. As much as change and forward movement excites me, I also feel sad that I can’t physically capture a moment, lock it up somewhere safe, and bring it out again later, when I really need it.
Maybe that’s why I’m obsessed with time travel. How amazing would it be to have the ability to go back and relive a memory. Even though I would experience it from a different place, one where I know what I know now, to have a chance to see a moment in time unfold again and be part of it for a second time would be one of the coolest things ever.
See the movie. Hug your friends. Live your life.