The first question that came up for me as I first read the book, and then watched the film Nights in Rodanthe was, what is Rodanthe and how do you pronounce it?
According to Wikipedia, Rodanthe (roe-DANTH-ee) is “an unincorporated community located in Dare County, North Carolina, on Hatteras Island, part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Now that we’ve cleared up the geography of the place, I would like to say I thoroughly enjoyed this film including the very sad ending. Life is like that sometimes…really sad and unfair.
The house featured in the film is phenomenal! It becomes an important character in the story. And the owner of the “Inn at Rodanthe” is also a rich, fascinating character even though she’s rarely seen or heard from.
Adrienne (Diane Lane), a middle aged woman who is still reeling from her husband’s recent betrayal and struggling to build a life without him, decides to help out a friend by acting as an inn keeper for a long weekend. The guest is Paul (Richard Gere), a doctor from the city who has come to Rodanthe to fulfill a difficult obligation and to confront his own crisis of conscience.
You guessed it, as a hurricane rages outside, these two begin to confront life’s conflicts and contradictions together. They begin a life-changing romance that will resonate through the rest of their lives.
As corny as all this sounds (I mean, what are the chances that the only guest at the inn is Richard Gere?), I still loved the romance because of the respect shown between the main characters.
This truly is the ultimate midlife romance, when you think about it. This film portrays mature love in a mature way, quite an unusual feat for a movie these days. It is well acted and, as previously mentioned, the house is phenomenal.
But, keep in mind, this is a major tear-jerker. I had read the book a few years ago, so I should have been forewarned, but with a terrible memory like mine plus concussion, the end surprised me as much as my friend who hadn’t read the book!
October 30, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi Laura Lee:
I am back from my fall “leaf peeping” tour and am catching up on reading my favorite blogs. As you may remember, I recently moved to Florida from the Outer Banks. Little tidbit here: the movie was actually shot in Rodanthe (Ro-DAN-thee). Many of the locals worked for the film crew in a variety of capacities. The house they used (the one shown with the raging ocean sweeping beneath its pilings) is an actual house that people can rent for vacations - the name of it is Serendipity. It is in a community called Mirlo Beach that has been hard hit by erosion from hurricanes and nor’easers over the past few years. Just a week or so ago, another really bad storm came through and took down another house just a few lots away from Serendipity - this time a million dollar house that was only 10 years old. If you want to read more about the destruction that can be caused by a storm like this, check out the Island Free Press story (from Hatteras Island) at http://www.islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/10.20.2008-ASmallStormCausesBigTroubleOnHatterasIsland.html and the amazing slide show of the effects of the storm at: http://www.islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/10.20.2008-ASmallStormCausesBigTroubleOnHatterasIslandSlideshow/index.html. Serendipity is still standing, but it’s anyone’s guess for how long.