Long Live Love is a romance-comedy directed by Priyakarn Bootprasert. The story focuses on the life of Sati and his family, which is about to be upturned because of his unruly ways of living. A sudden turn of events causes major changes in the man, helping him realize the worth of his family. The Thai film, streaming on Netflix, has garnered a lot of attention because of the outstanding cast, including Rebecca Patricia Armstrong, Araya A. Hargate, Sunny Suwanmethanont, and others. Will Sati be able to regain the loving memories he made with his wife and family? Will he be able to understand Meta’s worth? Let us find out!
Spoilers Ahead
Was Sati’s Relationship Stained With His Family? Why?
Sati and Meta have an estranged marriage because of his bad habits. Sati is a womanizer with the wrong set of friends who are leading him down a destructive path. His modeling career caused him to gain a lot of attention from people, making him take advantage of the situation and his good looks. Sati and Meta were already planning a divorce when he met with an accident, affecting his memory and causing him to slip into partial amnesia. The doctors said that he could regain his memory after a few months. When he did come back home from the hospital, he had forgotten everyone, and Meta thought that it was best not to remind him of their past relationship anymore. She told him that she was his sister and that Namo, their daughter, was the maid. She had removed all their family pictures from the house so that he would not be reminded of old memories. However, after several courses of events, the relationships become as clear as day to Sati.
Namo held a grudge against Sati for being an incapable father, never giving them enough attention and time. She was quite distant from him, and when she heard that her mother was going away to Bali for work, she was disappointed. She thinks to herself that it would have been better if her father had left. The family is seen to have no empathy left for Sati, even after his accident. When he comes back home, Meta tries taking her own sweet share of revenge on him. She makes him sleep on the couch and gives him food that he is allergic to, taking full advantage of his lost memory. When Sati tries taking a picture of their cat with a camera, he gets sudden flashes of his past and remembers certain things. He then discovers that taking pictures boosted his previous memories. He takes on the urge to recreate every old picture that he finds in the house. When Meta learns about how his memory gets boosted, she burns all their pictures together because she does not want to undergo the same trauma of their marriage again. She had given up all hopes about their relationship rekindling.
What Changed Sati’s Life?
The accident had obliterated Sati’s memories of himself and his family. It was now his responsibility to build a new man with his old memories from scratch. He found a picture of himself, Pete, Namo, and Meta many years ago, when Namo was just a baby. He recreates that picture, finds out the fond memories that they had made as a family, and unleashes many other associated happy memories that were hidden under the conscious mind. He was a completely different person before his accident, with his friend Nakrob having a very bad influence on him. He was involved in love affairs and physical relationships with other women that Meta had no idea about. She used to keep nagging him to know about the other women that she doubted, making her look like a psychopath. But in reality, she was just too tired and miserable to seek answers for herself in a relationship that was not transparent at all. After the accident, he has lost his memories of all his wrongdoings and seeks Meta’s love like before.
Namo has, however, not forgotten the traumas that her father inflicted on them and is intent on bringing his bad memories back. Namo takes him to meet his old friends so that they can recreate old memories and he can become like before again. She wanted him to go back to his old self so that she and her mother could move on from him. As he is reminded of a memory where he was an irresponsible father taking Namo out on a trip to a tattoo parlor with his friends, he regrets it immediately. He is reminded of how a tattoo was made on Namo’s hand when she was just a child. As the old memories rush back to him, he regrets his actions and tries to become a better father and husband. On one occasion, when he tries re-creating one of the pictures with Meta, he is reminded of how he cheated on her with another woman. The efforts that Meta had put in and the struggles that he had put her through started becoming more clear to him as he was looking at his own past acts from a third-person point of view.
How Changed Was Sati As A Man? Did He Repent Of His Actions?
After the memories started coming back to him, he was a completely changed man. He started regretting his past actions and loathed his irresponsible self. As soon as his memories of cheating on Meta come back to him, he promptly confesses it to her and apologizes. Meta is seen to break down, as she has been suspicious of his activities for a very long time. Later, as they go on a family vacation, Sati finds a picture and wants the family members to deck up in the same old clothes and recreate it. After doing it, he is struck by a very toxic memory of him being mean to Meta. He had flashbacks of how Meta had checked his phone secretly and lashed at him for not being transparent to her; she also complained to Sati for not having time for his own family. When Sati lashed back at her, they got into an ugly fight, resulting in Meta trying to kill herself. Sati is repulsed by himself when he is reminded of his own activities in the past. After the accident, Sati is seen to have a drastic change in him, spending more time with his family, going out with Meta, and spending time like before. He had by then realized that the acts that he had done were devastating and had ruined his family completely. He tried his best to reanimate their relationship by recreating the old times when they were happy together.
What Happens In The End?
Sati realizes his mistakes and calls his girlfriend to break up with her. He is amazed to hear that they had already broken up earlier and were just friends. It is possible that Sati was trying to mend his relationship with Meta even before his accident, which he had forgotten all about. He goes back to Meta, who is preparing to leave for Bali, and suddenly she hands him a picture of their wedding day and says that she wanted to recreate it. They finally get dressed in their wedding attire and click a picture, reminding Sati of the old times when they were so much in love. The efforts that Meta had put in to marry him, despite her mother being averse to the marriage, flashed right in front of him. He was also reminded of the way they had gotten married and had a beautiful ceremony. By the time Sati realized how much he once loved his wife, it was too late, as Meta had lost all her feelings for him. The bond between Namo and Sati is eventually shown to become better again, but whether Meta leaves for Bali is left open for the audience to imagine!
Final Words
It is very important for us to value relationships while we still have time. One-sided efforts always kill emotions! Had Sati been able to feel the depth of Meta’s love for him, he would not have faced the perils of heartbreak. It is ironic that, at last, when he realizes all his mistakes and wants to mend them, Meta has become quite distant from him. Will the couple reunite? There is a ray of hope that the director has left us at the end of the film, where both the parts of a torn picture of Meta and Sati have been pinned up together! I hope a sequel is made to this unique love story, showing a reunion of the couple. I would love to watch them fall in love all over again!
