SWEET MAGNOLIA movie 🍿

https://youtu.be/TEgrH93KLgY?si=v9T7eiTE0xfJ-H0j 

                                  A  SAFE PLACE! 

                         (A review of Sweet Magnolia movie) 

          It’s a well choreographed Netflix original movie 🍿(full of fun 🤩)      

         It’s   highly emotional , educational & entertaining.

 Full of life’s wisdom ,relationship tips,support tips ,love tips , how-men-should-relate-with-women tips, how-men-should-relate-with-men tips,how-women-should-relate-with-women tips ,parenting tips and leadership tips etc 

         It’s a family movie with lots of light kisses and nothing more 

        There is just something warm and loving about the movie from episode 1 in Season 1 that will keep you glued till the end of the last episode in Season 3 

       The movie classically shows the power of a support community or system in a city called Serenity where everyone knows what is going on with another (majorly to offer sincere help,tips,give solicited & unsolicited advice in addition to  dragging or mocking others)

      The city literally explains the African adage

 “2 people can parent a child but 

the whole community ends up bringing up that child “

     There are 3 major /lead characters and several other supporting  characters . 

      These major characters are :

• Chef Dana Sue (married to Ronnie) ; 

• Maddie married to Dr Townsend ; 

• Helen the lawyer initially not sure of the lover to spend the rest of her life with  between Bryan (her childhood sweetheart ) and  Chef Eric that she met recently 

          1 

          Let’s start with Chef Dana Sue married to Ronnie .

         They were married for many years but had to split (separation)

       The husband (convinced of their undying love for each other) came back into the arms of Dana Sue who also wanted their marriage to work out. 

       Both of them realizing the possibility of their marriage working again gave it a second shot by involving an outside respected help  to guide them.

       One interesting thing about their 

come -back marriage happens to be the fact that they were ready to start from the scratch ,be open about how they felt at every point of the journey and ready to learn everything possible to enable them express their undying love to each other. 

      A big lesson to learn here is this: 

•loving each other is one thing while making deliberate attempts to express that love in the way your partner would understand (love language) is another thing . 

      It was so beautiful having a  marriage vow renewal at the end  and also hearing their teenage daughter express her desire to have her own marriage modeled after her parents’ marriage . 

    How cool is that ! 

    2. 

MADDIE  and Dr Townsend 

           Maddie was married to Dr Townsend who happened to treat her harshly in addition to having an extra-marital affair with Noreen (his staff) that resulted into pregnancy with the promise of getting  married to her 

         So the Dr divorced  Maddie and left the house to her & their 3 children (Ty,Kyle & Kathie) 

         She later was in love with her child’s football 🏈 coach (Cal) who treated her like a queen. 

         One thing I noticed,happens to be the fact that:👇🏾

 the Dr didn’t satisfy the 3 major needs of his wife  (allowed to talk;be listened to ; showered with attention ) and that costed him his marriage. 

        He later regretted it and apologized to Maddie but it was too late because she has already moved on          

      Once a lady moves on,she hardly looks back . 

      Never push your woman or partner to the wall 

   3 

HELLEN ,BRYAN and CHEF ERIC 

        Helen the lawyer has always been in love with Bryan ( her childhood sweetheart) but he happens to be a restless person that finds it difficult settling down in a small,quiet city called Serenity where Helen happens to call her home 

       So he left the city (and by extension Helen)  and later came back after a long time. 

      Of course she received him and they continued the relationship from where they stopped 

(please note Helen was already getting comfortable being  in love 

with Chef Erik when  Bryan came back)

       She later dumped him(Eric) when Bryan came back until the continued restlessness in him led to the final break-up of their relationship and she had to move on but not without lots of tears 

( ladies cry a lot for both good and bad events ) . 

Towards the end of Season 3, Helen  and Eric were seen  making moves to have a come-back in their relationship.

      One big lesson from Helen’s relationship issues despite being very helpful to so many people and a pleasant & likable person is the fact that :👇🏾

love is not enough and that you can’t deny who you are or your life’s purpose despite loving someone with a non-aligning purpose 

     Bryan clearly loved 🥰 Helen but he could not deny his life purpose of being on a constant move helping people even in far away lands which was not in alignment with Helen’s purpose that was attached to Serenity . 

       Can you see? They both enjoy helping people but “how” and “where” to carry it out was not aligned . 

       Hence, purpose compatibility is one of the 3Cs that must be ticked before saying I do or break-up the relationship. 

The other Cs are : Sexual compatibility (in terms of mindset,preference and orientation & virginity ) and Life Core values compatibility . 

       Another thing about Helen’s relationship issues is that :👇🏾

it affirms the fact that the statement “only one person is meant for just one person “ is false . 

     One more big thing you will notice in the movie is the power of support . 

     The way guys get to bond at the basket ball court and the way the trio (Dana ,Helene and Maddie ) made sure that no matter how busy their day was,they made sure they end up meeting everyday to talk about their day and provide the needed emotional support each person needed .       

       They(the trio)  weren’t really concerned about the solution  as compared to talking about the impact the problem has on one of them. This is a typical way women think and operate among themselves. 

       Being able to talk about their daily challenges (without a sense of judgement or condemnation or offer of unsolicited advice) really helped the trio go through life’s challenges and still remain sane . It also helped them to be respected unofficial community leaders 

      This really goes a long way to show that women are more communal than men  and that they think  or process their thoughts while talking .

    So,once you  allow them to talk about what they are going through,they will be able to sort out their issues themselves and if they need your help as their friend or partner or spouse,you will be the first person they would call 

      I hope with this few points of mine I have been able to convince you (lol) that you should create or have a support community that will be a safe place to unburden  yourself without any sense judgement ,restriction ,condemnation,unsolicited advice and so on 

Doctor Michaels,MBChB (ogun)

Medical doctor with interest in interventional talking therapy