Last week, we examined a Christmas movie performance that came close to Oscar glory to celebrate the holidays. Now that we're at the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it seems appropriate to choose a New Year's Eve film. When it came time to pick such a picture, my mind immediately went to Rob Reiner's 1989 smash When Harry Met Sally…, a perfect rom-com whose Nora Ephron-penned screenplay earned a much-deserved Academy Award nomination. Our focus shall be on the Sally of the title, Meg Ryan giving a comedienne's masterclass…
When Harry Met Sally… starts in 1977 when the protagonists are just out of college in Chicago and are headed to New York, sharing a ride to the Big Apple that's full of bickering. Their youthful incompatibility is clear from minute one as Sally enters the movie in a feat of intrusive energy, driving into the scene just as Harry is making out with his girlfriend. With a helmet of 70s curls and blue eyeshadow, she's a vision of girlish irritation, greeting the lovebirds with an insincere smile. Even the cynicism of this expression manages to be funny in Ryan's hands, charming too.
During the long car ride, her chemistry with Crystal is impossible to comprehend, it's so unfathomably brilliant. The relationship between the characters may start as antagonistic, but the way they chat and argue speaks of a sublime complement of personalities. His lackadaisical humor as a shield to hide hurt and her nervous chirpiness work perfectly with the other. One quickly realizes that whether or not this dynamic turns into romance, we'll be happy to spend hours hanging out with them. Even when just acquaintances, they're irresistible. A few years later, that's still true when they meet at the airport, bickering some more.
We can find great precision in how Ryan shows Sally's aging, from the lessening chirpiness of speech patterns to the growing comfort in body language. A woman who's learning to be at ease with herself as the years go by, she goes from an overcompensating college graduate to a responsible adult. The most flagrant alteration is Sally's relationship with sex and shame. In the prologue, she's embarrassed about implying the word in public. In New York, a decade after, she has no qualms about faking an explosive orgasm and seems to enjoy the attention she's getting. That scene should have been her Oscar clip if there was any justice in the world.
Notice too, how, in 1977, Ryan's Sally insists she's a happy person with the sort of stubborn resoluteness of someone telling a lie to themselves. Later, when she insists on this again, the forcefulness is gone, but the words ring more authentic. Her relationship with these realities of joy has evolved, though her attitude towards life remains steadfast. Aging's not only a matter of change. Some things, such as Sally's optimism, are constant throughout her many temporal incarnations, shining in different colors but keeping the same light.
When Harry and Sally tell each other about their plights in the late 80s, Ryan delivers one of her most delicate feats of characterization. Sally's sad about her broken love affair with another man but also lost in bittersweet remembrance. There's a wistfulness to her words, a ghost of lost glee that's still treasured by the wounded heart. Still, she's not lying when she's explaining the logic of the breakup. Neither is she trying to convince herself of a desperate untruth. Nothing makes her feel more wonderfully mature than such psychological peace.
Not that she's immune to negative emotion or the overwhelming violence of unhappiness. She does try to live through loss and romantic melancholia, not letting its acid kiss burn her. However, even this romcom heroine has her limits. When the floodgates of pain open up, they do so spectacularly with tears, snot, shouted whining. Their first New Year's Eve dance is a precious example of drama barging its way into the frothy romance. Then, as they dance, both Harry and Sally start to feel the inkling of romance. Ryan plays it as if Sally is scared, terrified of her heart, of how happy Harry makes her. She's terrified of the risk, of losing the relationship, the friendship, in pursuit of romantic intimacy.
Another example of Ryan's canny telegraphing of her character's arc is her exasperation with Harry. Earlier in the movie, it's a feeling tainted with irritation, revulsion. As the story continues, it becomes shaded with fondness, a rueful manifestation of their chemistry, both as friends and romantic partners. Whether arguing with abrasive feeling or throwing zingers at each other in playful tones, one can't help but laugh with them. There's such great comedic timing to every one of her reactions, gestures, and line readings that it's both comedy gold and a masterclass in effortless acting.
She's so effortlessly charismatic, in fact, that one can take Ryan's work for granted. Make no mistakes, this is an unimprovable performance, a feat of rom-com acting that puts most others to shame. Part of it is that Ryan doesn't ever play Sally as a type, never reducing her to some cartoonish archetype. The actress is helped by the script and gentle direction, of course. When Harry Met Sally… is, after all, an adult romance that doesn't see love as a magic phenomenon but has a complex dynamic that grows between people and needs work to remain healthy, alive, vital.
This touch of realism demands a lot of the actors, but it also gives them opportunities to explore the plasticity of their talent. It doesn't make the romance any less lovely either, quite the contrary. The feeling that we're watching people instead of movie mechanisms makes it all the more beautiful. In the end, it's not that men and women can't be friends but that they need to be friends for a romantic relationship to work. Thankfully, since this is a jolly romcom, Harry and Sally do find a way to make it work. They conclude the movie as a couple happily united after a New Year's Eve kiss that'll forever have a place of pride in the history of cinematic romance.
Oscar-wise, SAG and the BFCA were still years away from giving out Best Actress prizes so one can't count on them to define who was in the awards conversation. However, the Globes were already there and Meg Ryan did score a nomination. She also won the American Comedy Award, but AMPAS ignored her in favor of Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel, Pauline Collins in Shirley Valentine, Jessica Lange in Music Box, Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys, and, the victor, Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy. By my account, Ryan is miles better than the majority of the nominees and would have made quite the worthy winner too.
When Harry Met Sally... is available to stream on HBO Max. You can also rent it from most services.