The Game of Love (Part II)

DOCTOR: He is suffering from acute melancholia, together with a guilt complex. He blames himself for what happened to the woman. And we know little of the background.

MIDGE: I can give you one thing: he was in love with her.

DOCTOR: Ah? That complicates the problem.

MIDGE: I’ll give you another complication: he still is. And you know something, Doctor? I don’t think Mozart’s going to help at all.

– From Alfred Hitchcock’s, Vertigo (1958)

***

Even in misery he could see the humor of his situation – a middle-aged man demonstrating the emotional fortitude of a pubescent teenager. Lying awake at 3am stiff as a corpse, gasping for air and wondering if he would be the first poor fool to actually die of a broken heart. And you know his inner poet just relished the idea.

Alas, the content of his recent dreams indicates he is headed for recovery. For once he had a dream she did not sabotage. And in another dream just a few nights ago she was dead. She did not die in the dream. She was dead when he found her. That is the difference. THAT is the birth of acceptance in the grief cycle.

To be continued…

E.F.