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Who can forget the shock of first seeing Brad Pitt on the big screen? In the 1991 classic Thelma and Louise, the babyfaced Pitt seduces the unhappily married Thelma (Geena Davis) and gives her the night of her life. Long before Angelina and the kids, he was the thinking woman's fantasy lover.
Eighteen years later and we're all a bit more battered by life. Not least Brad, who is now 45. But guess what? We can experience the twentysomething Pitt all over again. In his new film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, released on Friday, he plays a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.
Critics are divided about the film (which runs at nearly three hours), but everyone is waiting for one thing - the scene when Pitt, wearing a latex mask, gets to recreate his 28-year-old, Thelma and Louise youthful self.
It's a truly heart-stopping moment - as he lies in bed (this time with Cate Blanchett) at the height of his power and beauty. After all, how many of us would like to go back in time and be young again?
Imagine that glorious, toned body -unmarked by cigarette and alcohol excess. Remember the sheer joy of pulling on a pair of jeans and a simple white shirt - without any of the faff of putting on an expensive, stomach-deflecting burqa. Think of all that sense of possibility - new countries to travel, interesting lovers to be seduced by. A time before cynicism and elasticated waists.
But hang on a minute ... rewind. I'd hate to be 20 again. It was bloody awful. I was hopeless at being young. I spent my time falling in love with avoidant men. I chased after shallow, fashionable friends. I was a mystery to myself.
We lived in terrible flatshares and did lowly jobs. Looking back I could weep at how much time I wasted. I was the girl at the party you didn't really want to get trapped with.
But as I hit my thirties, things improved. I got nicer friends and stopped pursuing the bitchy set (who were relieved to see the back of me). And I began listening to other people properly. By your forties people are far more generous - instead of competing, you start to tell the truth about your lives.
Sorry Brad, but forget the twentysomething body beautiful, I'd rather have an older head on my shoulders.
The only thing I do envy my younger colleagues is their choice of men. Twentysomething males have real emotional intelligence. They can talk to women as equals (after all, they've had feminist mothers and sisters). They have no problem with women bosses. In short they make good boyfriend material.
But as Brad finds in Benjamin Button, one of the ironies of life is you're not ready for your heart's desire when you're 20. Roll on grey hair and laughter lines - the best is yet to come.
Reader views (3)
Look after yourself physically and you can have all the external advantages of youth and the internal advantages of age!
- Monica, london, 03/02/2009 09:04
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Twenty, maybe not, but I'd sure like to be in my late twenties again and know what I know now.
- John W, hamilton canada, 02/02/2009 16:50
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How I do agree! I wouldn't be young again for any money - one of the luxuries of greater age and experience is knowing enough not to be intimidated by all the things that torture you when you're young; other people's opinions, fashion, one's looks...and all that expectation. Now I've ticked more boxes of things achieved, I feel happy to be able to relax and do the things I really want to do.
- Olivia Ridley, Southwest UK, 02/02/2009 13:17
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