Kissing Jessica Stein

I think that this movie has a lot to say about how love and desire does not know any boundaries.  Jessica goes on date after date with numerous different men and yet she never feels satisfied with any of them.  She finds herself in a rut when it comes to her love life, while her work life is going very well.  As a side note, I feel like this goes back to the whole concept that women cannot have it all in actuality.  If we want a good love life, we have to sacrifice our careers.  On the other hand if we want to flourish in our careers, we have to sacrifice our love lives.  While I do not think that this is the main point of the film, I do think that this theme is somewhat relevant.  Back to what I was saying, Jessica feels unsatisfied in her love life.  It is not until she surprising kisses a female named Helen that she feels a spark again even though she is not a lesbian.  Jessica is very taken aback by her connection with Helen because Helen has every mental quality that Jessica is looking for in a man.  Again, I think that this sudden connection relates back to the theme that we cannot choose who we love or desire.  Love and desire go beyond us, and play out as it sees fit.  There's no other explanation for why we can be attract to someone we thought we hated or someone who others think is very ugly, but we do not see that at all.  While I do believe this idea that we  have talked about in class about not being able to choose who we love and desire, I think ultimately what I have learned from this movie and in class, is that while we may not be able to choose who we love and desire, we do have control over it.  Jessica allows herself to be in a relationship with Helen, but never fully.  At the end of the day, no matter what her desire, Jessica is never comfortable being in a relationship with a woman and prefers a male companion.  So while desire has no limitations, we do mentally.