Living Is Easy: A Feel-Good Movie About Dreams And Self-Fulfilment

Biju Viswanath’s Living is Easy (LE) is a heart-warming inspirational story of a seenager Maria Von Trippenstadt’s unwavering belief in herself and her dreams and her capacity to sing away her disappointment, caused by society’s invalidation of her musical dream and ambition. Life coaches wax eloquent about nature’s priceless treasures which act as balm for people coping with personal and spiritual crises— LE conveys a similar message.

Maria desires to sing in front of an audience before she kicks the bucket. The film begins showing the bespectacled woman prepping herself for a concert. She spends every waking hour of hers diligently rehearsing musical notes; she even practices singing “Halleluyah” in the loo (indicative of her obsession with music) and performs various vocal modulation exercises such as practising breath control by singing before a lighted candle, and studiously pores over Singing for Dummies book to learn the ropes of singing. A friend dissuades Maria from holding the concert, believing that her singing aspirations are unreasonable. She asks Maria to relinquish her hope of singing to a packed audience, which from her perspective is not worthy of pursuit. However, her friend’s discouraging words cannot shake Maria’s resolve. Regrettably, as prophesied by Maria’s friend, no one turns up for the concert.

Society’s disregard for her musical aspirations, however, cannot break Maria’s spirit and shatter her self-confidence. In the church, Maria confides in god her anger and displeasure against her critics. The most breath-taking, smile-worthy aspect of the film is the transfixing closing visuals which show Maria enjoying the spiritual riches hidden in nature. Instead of moping about the fact that people have rejected her music, Maria, without a care in the world, raises a toast to herself literally and metaphorically. Everything about her speaks volumes about her zest for life and her strong sense of self-belief. Like a rock star, she sings “Summer time and the livin is easy” as she stands on a rock surface in the midst of the dashing sea waves. Singing to her heart’s content, her smile grows wide, steady and her face glows with triumph. Maria slowly drifts into a fantasy as she imagines cheer claps ringing in her ears and bows to the adulation around her coming forth from nature and is immensely satisfied that the sea waves are stoked by her singing. Maria had initially wished to earn people’s applause for her singing. However, for her, the encouraging signs offered by the roaring sea and the wind for her singing is nothing short of an accomplishment. Fortunately, Maria’s inner confidence cannot easily be sapped by societal rejection of her aspirations.  

Maria’s rendition of George Gershwin’s composition from his opera Porgy and Bess, which has also inspired the title of Viswanath’s movie, is significant. “Summer time and the livin is easy” is sung by the woman playing the role of an indigent mother residing in “‘Catfish Row’” in the opera, to lull her child into a peaceful sleep by making it falsely believe that they have best of the world’s comforts and that there is nothing to worry. In LE, through singing Gershwin’s opera song, Maria is deluding herself into believing that all is well, her singing has been well received and that the idyllic atmosphere around her is testament to it. Maria’s choice of the song highlights the pleasure of dreaming and imagining and retreating, even if momentarily, from reality. Instead of crooning about her autumn years, Maria celebrates the joys of summer. Not willing to accept old age as the painful waiting period for her death, Maria tries to make the most of her retired phase of life and excitedly hones new artistic skills. In doing so, Maria proves that singlehood and the sunset years of one’s life can be spent positively through pursuit of some productive and healthy goals.

Through an obstinate pursuit of her singing aspirations, Maria proves that dreams can be pursued any time in your life. Maria’s ability to follow her bliss and not to succumb to defeat when discouraged by society for her ambition needs to be admired. Thankfully, Maria soon forgets her disappointment caused by society’s rejection of her aspirations. How nice it would be if one could have a goldfish memory about demoralizing criticism received from others. Interestingly, although Maria is not an accomplished and veteran singer, she has not an iota of doubt about her singing and is confident that her audience shall love her singing. Instead of feeling cast down by her friend’s doubts about the merit of her singing, and wasting time catastrophizing about failure and aborting her dream, Maria comes prepared for the concert. In remaining impervious to people’s judgement about her choices, Maria has succeeded in finding inner happiness and peace which are chimerical dreams for many. Drawing upon her internal strength, Maria affords to smile even in the face of societal rejection.  Maria’s way of living inspires and persuades you to believe in yourself and to chase your dreams and to celebrate yourself irrespective of success or failure and not to fret if you don’t get whatever you had desired for. Maria’s concept of self is so strong that it makes you feel good to see her, even envy her, luxuriating in her own and nature’s company. Nature helps her defeat dejection.

LE is an optimistic account of the unexpected inner peace, an uplifting sense of inner contentment an individual can attain by enjoying the little pleasures nature has to offer human beings. Anyone can will themselves to be happy even when society turns their backs against them –in other words, the movie tells you that when life gives you lemons, you, like Maria, should make and relish the lemonade all by yourself. This feel-good movie does not have a fairytale ending. Had Maria succeeded in singing in the open concert to a packed audience as she had desired to do, and won plaudit for her musical skills, the film would have lost its charm. LE offers an affirmative tale which celebrates self-acceptance in the face of social hostility. I know that the idea of ‘living is easy’ appears ridiculous and impossible; it is easy said than done. Yet Maria’s life fills hope in you and nudges you to make a fresh start whenever you feel gutted. Her knack to move on in life, even in the face of failure, is simply awesome and worthy of emulation. Maria presents an alternative way of living–this way of living is conspicuous by its strangeness–which is self-fulfilling and empowering for the individual and frees them from anxieties.