Elizabeth Margulis

They do not marry each other.

And in fact, the character played by Emma Stone goes on and marries someone else and ends up being very successful actor.

And they're kind of strolling around

one evening and happen into this jazz club.

And it turns out that this is the jazz club that had been founded in the intervening years by Ryan Gosling's character.

So they sit down, Ryan Gosling's character comes out on stage and starts playing on the piano this song that he'd been playing in the restaurant when they first met.

And then, you know, the camera changes and now we're back in that first moment.

And then we go through this entire fantastical imagined scenario where instead of breaking up, they stay together, you know, and have this kind of joyful coexistence.

And then the camera kind of comes out, the song ends, and we go back to...

the actual reality in the movie of them sitting in this bar and looking at one another.

And it's just a really visceral kind of example of having a strong personal memory to music.

So imagine that you are a person that is suffering from dementia, right?

And so there's lots of anecdotal evidence and some scientific evidence that if I play you music from your adolescence,

that not only can that bring back some kind of memory, right?

But it tends to bring back memories that are positive because you tend to listen to music in community with other people.

The memories tend to have this social dimension and they tend to be,

memories that tell you something about who you are, so that connect to your identity and help you fill in that missing kind of story about what matters to you in your life in a way that now a person with dementia who's listened to this song, perked up, remembered something, has some kind of halo period after listening to it where there's just more

cogency, more ability to communicate and be present with the people around them.

So that's an example that then you dial that back and think about ordinary life, right?

And this way that a song can bring back