I first watched “When Harry Met Sally” when I was a chubby pre-pubescent teen, with a penchant for McDonald’s thickshakes.
As I was watching the scene where Sally slaps Harry for saying he had pity sex with her, I was still thinking about the preceding scene where she throws away a perfectly good prawn-based canape. “What I waste! I would so eat that before a fight,” my greedy 12-year-old mind thought.
Watching the same scene a few years later as a full blown teenager, I was mortified that they would have such an open display of emotion in front of complete strangers. I blushed with embarrassment for both Harry and Sally – I couldn’t believe that they would let the kitchen staff know they had sex.
In my early twenties, I was firmly in the sisterhood and cheered Sally on for slapping the stupid idiot. How dare he impose his paternal and egotistical mindset on a strong and independent woman!
The other day, I channel flicked into this movie and found myself at this same scene again. As a married woman with a step-son, my first reaction was to chuckle. It was really amusing to me that human beings waste so much energy agonising over the choice that they have already made.
Then I got a bit teary because I was so exhausted and hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in I don’t know how long and was all tired and emotional. Then I thought about prawns.
