film | intern (2015) | Seniors, be an intern.

The Intern (2015 film)

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Ben ( Robert De Niro) said,

Freud said, "Love and work. Work and love. "That's all there is."
Well, I'm retired, and my wife is dead.
As you can imagine, that's given me some time on my hands.
My wife's been gone for three and a half years.
I miss her in every way. And retirement?
That is an ongoing, relentless effort in creativity.
At first, I admit I enjoyed the novelty of it. Sort of felt like I was playing hooky.
I used all the miles I'd saved and traveled the globe.
The problem was, no matter where I went, as soon as I got home,*

the nowhere-to-be thing hit me like a ton of bricks.

I realized the key to this whole deal was to keep moving.
Get up, get out of the house, and go somewhere. Anywhere.
Come rain or shin, I'm at my Starbucks by 7:15.

Can't explain it, but it makes me feel part of something.
How do I spend the rest of my days? You name it.
Golf, books, movies, pinochle.
Tried yoga, learned to cook, bought some plants, took classes in Mandarin.
Xiang xin wo, wo shen me dou shiguo le. Translation, "Believe me, I've tried everything."

And then, of course, there are the funerals.
So many more than I could imagine.
The only traveling I do these days is out to San Diego to visit my son and his family.
They're great. I love 'em to pieces.
But to be honest, I think I probably relied on them way more than I should.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an unhappy person.
Quite the contrary. I just know there's a hole in my life, and I need to fill it. Soon.
Which brings me to today, when I was leaving the market and caught your flyer out of the corner of my eye.
Hmm. "Seniors, be an intern."

[...]

So here I am, applying to be one of your interns because the more I think about this idea, the more tremendous I think it is. I love the idea of having a place I can go every day.
I want the connection, the excitement. I wanna be challenged, and I guess I might even wanna be needed.
The tech stuff might take a bit to figure out.
I had to call my 9-year-old grandson just to find out what a USB connector was.
But I'll get there. Eager to learn. Also, I want you to know I've been a company man all my life.
I'm loyal, I'm trustworthy, and I'm good in a crisis. And I love that you're right here in Brooklyn.
I've lived here all my life, and lately I feel I may not be hip enough to live in Brooklyn, so this could help with that, too.

Well, I still have music in me, absolutely positive about that.

Nice!