By Eleanor Kazdan, Philadelphia, PA 11/21/2019 — I have been watching a series on Netflix—The Kominsky Method. It stars Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, a well-known acting coach, and Alan Arkin as his friend Norman. I like the show for itself, and also because it’s one of the few shows that my husband agrees to watch with me.
Sandy Kominksky had his own school with a motley group of students with ages ranging from their early 20s to 70s or so. In the class, the students perform scenes from plays, as well as do improvisation. Sandy is an astute observer of human emotions. He tries to get the students to peel off the layers of defense, and get to the real stuff—the core of who they are. It’s fascinating to watch this happen during his class.
As is often the case, though, his personal life is a different story. The task of his best friend Norman seems to be to challenge Sandy to strip away his own defenses.
A few nights ago we decided to watch an episode to relax after a hectic day. (If anyone is watching the series I don’t want to be a spoiler.) In this episode, Sandy has a serious medical problem. He can’t bring himself to tell anyone about it. He keeps up his defenses. This episode turned out to be anything but relaxing. We worried about Sandy.
The program has gotten me thinking about being real. I feel like an onion. Each year I am peeling off another layer, getting closer to the core of who I really am. At 70 I am still learning to be myself.
