ringing in 35 years of falling in love with the knit-fits and neuroses of When Harry Met Sally… • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

Ephron and Reiner had begun the project as recent divorcées (her from journalist Carl Bernstein, he from director Penny Marshall), but in the five years between the first draft and finished film, the collaborators discovered new perspectives. Ephron married GoodFellas co-writer Nick Pileggi in 1987, who she would be with for 25 years until her death. Reiner’s sentimental streak came at nearly the last minute. During the movie’s production, director of photography Barry Sonnenfeld introduced him to photographer Michele Singer, even predicting beforehand that the pair would get married. Crystal helped come up with the lines for the midnight confession, Harry and Sally got their happy ending and Reiner and Singer—still together today—tied the knot before the film even reached theaters.

It’s a testament to how When Harry Met Sally… draws so much warmth from the specificity of its real-life connections. Inspired by the behind-the-scenes anecdotes, I set out to hear from members with their own deeply personal ties to the picture to ask what makes them return to it again and again. Within 24 hours, more than 50 devotees answered my call-out. Fittingly, what stood out the most was how in Harry and Sally, people see themselves and their relationships—romantic, platonic and familial alike.

Take Ana, who first became obsessed at age ten after her dad shared how the love story reflected him and her mom. “My dad prefers his blockbusters, while my mom indoctrinated me into the French New Wave since I was six. However, When Harry Met Sally… is one of those few films where they can meet in the middle, which is almost too perfect considering what it is about,” she shares. “They cannot help but tell the exact same stories about their own lives any time we sit down together for a rewatch. I know they know I’ve heard it all before, but they are still too glad to share them and I am still too glad to hear it.”

Twenty-year-old Caro celebrates every New Year’s Eve by watching the film with her mom, who first introduced her to it about five years ago. Ever since, she’s treasured the opportunity to share it with other people she loves. “During my first year of college, my roommate and I watched it while packing for winter break and we got the idea because she was eating some Mallomars. We still constantly quote, ‘You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right,’ to each other,” she says. “For my most recent birthday, my only wish was that I could make all my friends sit down and watch it, and I’ve never been more proud than when half of them cried at the ending.”