Are there any books or movies with this theme?

July 18, 2020 1:16 AM

Are there any thoughtfully written books, or movies, (or poems even) about two people who stay faithful in their marriages, yet sustain decades of deep affection and loving support for each other?
posted by anonymous to Human Relations (11 answers total)

I'm not clear on your use of "yet". Do you see a tension between staying faithful and decades of affection and support?

Try On Golden Pond.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:10 AM on July 18, 2020 [5 favorites]

It's very much the background of the main plot of the movie, but I still think Marge and Norm Gunderson from Fargo have the best relationship in perhaps the entire history of fiction.
posted by phunniemee at 4:42 AM on July 18, 2020 [6 favorites]

Clarifying — when you say “marriages”, I read it as “two people who have decades of affection for each other, but are each married to another person, to whom they stay faithful.” Is that right?
posted by profreader at 4:50 AM on July 18, 2020 [11 favorites]

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.
posted by umbú at 5:04 AM on July 18, 2020 [6 favorites]

I'm not clear on your use of "yet".

It sounds to me like they're asking for the stories of two individuals who are great friends each married to other people, but it certainly needs clarifying (mods?).

If instead the OP is looking for the story of one married couple who remain in love and do not stray, I'd recommend the couple at the center of the TV show Friday Night Lights.
posted by dobbs at 5:52 AM on July 18, 2020

Mod note: From the phrasing "two people who stay faithful in their marriages" (plural, ie, they each have a separate marriage), I am assuming OP means they are not married to each other. OP, if this is incorrect, please contact us, and we can make it clear.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:22 AM on July 18, 2020

This is one of the themes in City of Girls By Elizabeth Gilbert.
posted by dog-eared paperback at 6:31 AM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

84 Charing Cross Road, novel and movie (Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins) is a about a loving relationship, mostly conducted through letters, where the two principals have other spouses and relationships. Also good if you love books and reading, since the correspondence is between a bookstore owner in England and an opinionated American journalist. I liked it, but then again I saw it in my early teens at a formative time.
posted by seasparrow at 9:07 AM on July 18, 2020 [4 favorites]

Are you a Jane Austen fan? Are you up for a revisionist novel about Pride and Prejudice from a servant's point of view?
Longbourn, by Jo Baker.
posted by TrishaU at 8:41 PM on July 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Same Time, Next Year ?
posted by duckus at 8:09 AM on July 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

I would not consider the characters in Same Time, Next Year to be faithful.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 9:23 AM on July 20, 2020