We watched “La La Land” last week.

After it ended, I asked my daughter what she thought.

Loved it, except the ending. “It was so sad,” she explained. “Why did it have to end like that?”

She’s still young, still believes in fantasy and inevitable happy endings in stories … and in life. OF COURSE the boy gets the girl (and vice versa)! That’s how it’s supposed to work!

I feel it too. As an adult, the film’s melancholy ending satisfied my adult, rationale brain. Of course our hero and heroine don’t stay together. They sacrificed their magic to pursue dreams of success, a decision they’ve come to regret.

There’s still that side of me that yearns for a heartfelt “You complete me.” Cheesy? You bet, but it’s the difference between living a life as it could be, and how it really is.

“With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”

Right?