How To Make An American Quilt: A Movie Review

by Lewis Robinson

Based on the 1991 novel by the same name, How To Make An American Quilt (1995) is a movie that touches on the struggle of a young girl to figure out what she wants out of life. The movie starts out as Finn (Winona Ryder) is being proposed to by her boyfriend, Sam. She decides to spend the summer at the ranch of her grandmother and great-aunt while she finishes her thesis in order to do some soul-searching. 

While Finn is at the ranch, she meets the members of her grandmother's quilting bee. As she sees them stitching together bits of what appears to be beautiful fleece fabric, they tell her that their project is intended to be her wedding quilt. 

As the summer goes on, Finn struggles more and more with her thesis. She cannot decide on a topic and bounces from one subject to another as she battles writer's block. Throughout her time at the ranch, she also gets to hear each member of the quilting bee talk about the romantic experiences that have inspired each of their respective sections of the quilt. 

The stories that Finn gets to hear are fantastic tales of romance and adventure. Many of them are centered around spur-of-the-moment decisions, impulsivity, infidelity, and wild nights. Each of them, however, seems to follow the common theme of broken hearts, abandonment, and disappointment. These stories leave her confused about which direction she should take, or if she really wants to get married at all.

Over the summer, Finn gets the chance to meet Leon at a local pool. She has a brief affair with him, causing her to question the purpose of monogamy and whether or not it is possible to love more than one person at the same time. She continues to stress over her thesis and even has an argument with her fiancee about the floorplan of their future house, from which he removed a room that they had previously agreed would be dedicated to Finn's writing. Between this event and her affair, she is left frustrated and confused about her future. 

One fact that is revealed during the course of the film is that Finn's parents are separated. This foundation can lay a shaky groundwork for Finn's idea of how love functions. Towards the end of the film, however, her mother tells her that they have decided to get back together. This restores some of Finn's faith in love and brings her to return to Sam to work things out.

While it can be easy to receive mixed messages from this film, there does seem to be a common thread. There are many different types of love and ways to experience it. There is the love of a partner, the passion of a lover, the loyalty of a pet, or the devotion of a mother. Each type of love contributes to a person's life in different ways. The most important kind of love may be different for each individual, or potentially each kind of love may work together to build a fulfilling life. 

Finn's final decision to return to her fiance, Sam, reflects her own individual experience of love. She realizes that rather than deal with uncertainty, infidelity, and heartbreak, she wants stability and a friend that she can count on. Good relationships do not come from magic like they do in stories. They require hard work and communication. Thusly, Finn realizes that her relationship with her fiancee is worth that work.

The best part about this movie is that there is no clearcut message. The number of ways that a person can experience love are as beautiful and diverse as shapes on a quilt. Other peoples' stories can stitch a beautiful tapestry from which you can draw influence into your own life and choices. This is what makes the quilt such a meaningful wedding gift- it means something different to each person who looks at it.