"I know what it's like to have someone coming home who looks at you not in the way they used to in the old days, and I've seen my own face contorted with sadness and rage in the mirror"
- Jane Birkin
About this Quote
This poignant quote by Jane Birkin captures the deep psychological turbulence that can develop within intimate relationships gradually. At its core, the quote speaks with the agonizing change that unfolds when the initial heat and love in a relationship begin to fade. Birkin paints a vivid image of the disjunction between past and present-- a time when once familiar eyes, which used to look with love and admiration, now look with detachment or perhaps indifference.
The images of "someone coming home" evokes a sense of regular and familiarity, recommending a long-standing relationship, maybe a romantic partnership or familial bond, that was once a source of convenience and delight. The lament of someone looking "not in the way they utilized to in the old days" highlights the passage of time and the inevitable changes it brings, leaving one yearning for the lost closeness and connection.
Birkin's reflective moment in front of the mirror, where she sees her own "face contorted with sadness and rage," encapsulates the double sides of heartbreak. The unhappiness comes from the mourning of a relationship that is no longer what it was, a loss of a treasured connection that when enriched her life. Popular, on the other hand, might develop from sensations of betrayal, disappointment, or vulnerability-- emotions that frequently accompany such shifts in relationships.
This duality of feeling-- the simultaneous presence of unhappiness and anger-- is a testimony to the deep impact that losing intimacy can have on us. It highlights the inner struggle to reconcile cherished memories with present truths, and the difficulty in processing complex emotions that are typically intertwined. Ultimately, Birkin's reflection is a universal acknowledgment of the pain that accompanies relational modification, advising us of the deep longing for understanding and approval in our closest bonds.
This quote is written / told by Jane Birkin somewhere between December 14, 1946 and today. She was a famous Actress from England.
The author also have 14 other quotes.
"My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane"
"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time"
