2nd reading, Jan 2013. Still sublime.

I see in it an exaltation of the deliberate life. Of wakefulness. A recognition that we have one life to live; that the choices we make (or which are made for us) have their consequences but we can never know how it would be "otherwise". I see open-eyed appreciation of beauty in myriad forms. The unexpected clash between honesty and openness. The satisfaction of staying true to one's values. I see a warning against the Disneyfication of our world.

We never really get to know the characters—not in the conventional sense—but we recognize their inner conflicts. And we learn or re-learn to keep our eyes open and to embrace joy where we find it.