Writer Clay stood on the stage reading his new book "The Words". The book tells the story of a young writer, Rory.
Rory loves writing, but he can't support himself by writing, even his father.
He and his girlfriend Dora were newly married. During their honeymoon in France, he found an old-fashioned briefcase in a vintage store. To his surprise, the bag contained a manuscript.
Rory read the manuscript in one sitting and liked it very much. It was a story he'd only dreamed of but could never write.
Unable to resist the temptation of fame and fortune, he took the story as his own and put it into the publishing house. Unsurprisingly, he became a rising star in the literary world, with fame and fortune as expected.
But troubles followed. Oldman, the real author of the manuscript, appeared, and he brought his own story.
As a young man, he was an American soldier during World War II, and he met his wife while stationed in Paris. After the war, he stayed in Paris, married and had children.
The sudden death of the youngest daughter brought the originally happy little family to the brink of collapse. When his wife ran away, he locked himself in the house and did not eat or drink. With the sudden inspiration from the loss of his daughter, he completed the manuscript.
However, when his wife read his manuscript and decided to return to him, the loss of the manuscript completely tore the family apart.
"Maybe I love my work more than my wife."
This manuscript, catalyzed by pain, led him to believe that it was all he had. He left his wife for it, but the choice filled him with regret and loneliness for the rest of his life.
" There are many choices in life, the difficulty is how to continue living after the choice. "
Rory is also facing similar pain. If he wants to hide the truth, he must face the result of Dora's departure.
The oldman's story is both a prophecy and a wake-up call, which means that Rory will have to eat the bitter fruit of lies for the rest of his life.
The movie seems to tell us a story about moral criticism and choice through Clay, but all the hints make people feel that there seems to be some kind of connection between Clay and Rory, which makes people suspicious:
Is the plagiarized writer in the story himself?
In response, Clay was emotional and evasive:
" You have to choose between reality and fiction, which can be infinitely close, but never coincide. "
But what came to his mind was the image of Rory holding Dora a sincere apology. At this moment, it seems to see Rory who has achieved success in middle age.
People always expect that the outcome of their choice is easier to bear than the one that they give up. Even with oldman's lessons, Rory still chose the most wrong decision in our opinion.
Maybe many years later, he will really realize what he gave up for that choice.
Then he became a successful single man with a ring like Clay and a picture of his ex-wife in his book, all he wanted at the moment was to hug his beloved wife and say "I'm sorry".
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