List: The Small-Town Salvation Story

The other night the movie Chocolat (the 2000 one with Juliette Binoche) was on TV, and although I've seen it several times, I couldn't resist because I am a total sucker for the Small-Town Salvation story.

You know the one - person with recent tragedy, or mysterious past, or something to run from, or just a big case of the doldrums ends up, by design or by accident, in a small town where they confront their demons, discover their own resilience, make new (and usually eccentric) friends, and ultimately find a new home. I don't know why I'm such a sucker for this story archetype, which frequently comes with a very high cheese factor. As my husband can tell you, I do consistently dream about moving to a smaller, simpler place. He grew up in a small town (and I do mean small), and is probably more realistic than I am about the downside to that life. For example, if the eccentric people in your small town don't turn out to be your soulmates, they can get on your last nerve pretty damn quickly.

Nonetheless, the story never fails to work its magic on me. I like to think that's not because I'm fleeing demons or need a fresh source of friends, but rather because I am horrified by the prediction that by 2020 (or something like that) the Seattle area will absorb the equivalent of Portland's entire population. Given how crowded, congested and expensive my beloved Seattle has already become, I'm quite clear that I need to live far, far away from here by the time it absorbs another million-plus people. Even aside from that pragmatic motivation, though, there's a certain inexplicable and possibly naive romanticism involved.

So, a propos of nothing - a list. Feel free to add.

Small-Town Salvation Stories:

• Chocolat - Great international cast. Vagabond and outsider Juliette Binoche finally finds home and brings a much-needed breath of fresh air to a small French town in the 1950s.
  
• Where the Heart Is - I've only seen the movie. Pregnant teen-ager is abandoned by her boyfriend at an Oklahoma Wal-Mart, gives birth in the megastore, and then makes a new life.
  
• Under the Tuscan Sun- Book (Francis Mayes) and movie, though I believe only the fictionalized movie version meets the strict STSS criteria.
• The Shipping News - Again, a book (Annie Proulx) and a movie. A recent widower and general life loser makes a new life with his daughter and long-lost aunt in remote Newfoundland.
• Hope Floats. Sandra Bullock is a famous model or actress or something who returns to her hometown after divorce and humiliation.
  
• Sole Survivor - Book by little-known Australian author Derek Hansen. Set in 1960s New Zealand, a disillusioned woman makes a new home in a cabin she inherits on a remote island. Her eccentric neighbors include a survivor of the Bataan Death March, and they help each other heal. I love this book, though when I loaned it to a girlfriend she was distracted by what she considered a somewhat sexist sensibility.
• Runner-up: To Wong Foo With Love: Julie Newmar - this doesn't quite meet the STSS formula because although demons are faced and unlikely friends are found, the protagonists don't stay in the small town.