There is a danger in watching a film as a reviewer, Catholic or otherwise, when you are exhausted.  Yet, this is where being Catholic is arguably an advantage.  The oldest religious order in the Catholic Church, indeed, the one by and large responsible for giving birth to monastic life, are the Benedictines.  Their founder, St. Benedict, had as a motto, “Ora et labora.”  This simply means “pray and work,” but for Benedictines, prayer is work, and vice versa.  There is some more Latin for you.  Thus, while I did feel the need for a break, I also remain dedicated to keeping my Catholic take on movies going.  You also might be wondering what the heck this has to do with Love Is in the Air (2023)?  I give you this opening to, if nothing else, contextualize the attitude of the main character, Dana Randall (Delta Goodrem), and some of the events that take place in this Australian romantic comedy.  I pray you will see this theme, too.

One thing that becomes immediately clear in Love Is in the Air is that Fullerton Airways is in trouble.  It is a small bush airline in North Australia serving the scattered and isolated population of those parts.  Its co-founder, Jeff Randall (Roy Billing), stresses over the decisions made by their only pilot, his daughter, Dana.  She remains committed to the mission of her mother and Fullerton Airways other co-founder, which is to provide support for the population.  Her dedication to this principle is underscored when she picks up a homesteader and her snake-bitten dog, quite the Franciscan move on Dana’s part.  However, this means having a group of tourists cancel their scheduled flight.  Jeff claims the loss of profit is beginning to cause a strain on the business, but Dana is steadfast in doing things the way they have always done them.  Another source of fretting for Jeff, along with their one mechanic Nikki (Steph Tisdell), is Dana’s lovelife, or lack thereof.  When the subject of their income comes up, Dana waves it away saying that she will work harder.  This comes from another saying she took from her mother: that if there is something important that needs to be done, you need to do it yourself.  Jeff and Nikki, of course, push back on this idea, telling her that she should do what makes her happy.  Speaking of happiness, on the other side of the world in London, William “Will” (Joshua Sasse) is wondering how to do that for himself.  He works for his father’s, Duncan (Hugh Parker), financial corporation, and they are the ones that pay Fullerton Airway’s bills, along with holding interests in a number of ventures around the world.  One day, Will stumbles across Fullerton Airways in their holdings and presents it to dad as a potential business to shut down as a cost-saving measure.  It appears that Duncan has been waiting for his son to prove himself in some manner, and that Will is suitable to one day take over for his father.  In order to drive home the importance of this move, Duncan tells Will to go to Australia to personally investigate Fullerton Airways’ records to make sure it is the right decision.  He is not initially thrilled with the notion of crossing the globe, but with the obedience of the Catholic missionaries of old, he goes.  It is now the turn of the three staff members of Fullerton Airways to not be thrilled with his arrival, though Jeff and Nikki are more conciliatory.  It is not just what Will represents that has them bowing and scraping, but they see him as a potential suitor for Dana.  The fact that they are not exactly subtle about the possibility of romance makes her want to resist his fumbling charm all the more.  Despite her suspicion, she agrees to take him out on one of her flights in order to give him an idea of their operation.  Though he professes to be scared of flying, it is also painfully obvious the he is attracted to her.  As such, the following day, instead of looking over the financial books, he decides to go out on another run with her.  This is repeated again on the next turn of the calendar even when their one plane experiences engine problems and has to make an emergency landing.  This behavior begins to be noticed back in London, with Will dodging phone calls from Duncan because the son knows that the father is eager to shut down Fullerton Airways.  When finally Will does talk to his dad, Will attempts to argue against the selling off of the Australian company.  The heated conversation is overheard by Nikki, who believes they have been misled as to Will’s true intentions.  Upon returning from the call, they all confront Will. Before he can properly protest, Dana says that she wants nothing to do with Will.  This all comes as a category three cyclone (what they call hurricanes in that part of the world) bears done on their coastal enclave.  While Dana and Nikki argue with Will, Jeff heads out into the community to help get those in their community to safety, doing the Christian thing of focusing on others in a time of need.  It does not take long for Dana to realize that Jeff is missing, yet it is Will that manages to track down the old man.  Once the storm is over, Will promises to do whatever he can to save Fullerton Airways.  It looks impossible, though, especially when Duncan calls to inform Jeff that Fullerton Airways is being terminated.  Will leaves for London when it looks like there is nothing left to be done.  It is while cleaning up wreckage from the tropical blast that Dana decides it is finally time to change.  She then flies to London, bursts in on a board meeting headed by Duncan, and announces that she wants to expand Fullerton Airways.  Duncan voices incredulity that they can do it, but Will volunteers to step down to work for the Australian outfit.  This impresses both his dad and Dana. The final sequence is of the new and improved Fullerton Airways in operation.

“New and improved” is an appropriate cliché to underscore the message in Love Is in the Air.  Granted, the title is clichéd enough, but it is a useful one given the aviation theme.  My Catholic analysis is focused more on what that change means.  At one point, Dana iterates a common saying about how if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.  She uses that as a defense for how much effort she puts into keeping Fullerton Airways flying.  I feel there are some connections to be made between this and the idea of “ora et labora” as discussed in the introduction.  A member of a religious order, be they monks or nuns, do not join simply because they have nothing else to do.  This is something I was told years ago when asked by my pastor if I ever thought about becoming a priest.  I said that I had considered doing so if I was not able to find a wife.  Well, I am now forty-four and still single, though I see things differently now, more as my pastor believed.  To be the only pilot taking to the air to keep a community alive and supplied, and having no personal time of her own, or to dedicate your entire life to work and prayer, is not simply a pastime.  As for the saying to which Dana referred, you have to do it because you love it.  Though this movie is not about religion at all, I have a hunch that if we could conjure Dana before us, she would agree with the idea that what she does is like a prayer.  Whatever it is that modern culture and society thinks about prayer, they can at least agree that it is a solemn activity.  That is not to say that Dana is a serious person.  Rather, I wish to highlight the love she has for what she does.  This works in a Christian sense because we know that God is love.  Thus, to be able to labor in a monastery, or fly a plane for a living, is truly a blessing.

There were a few moments in Love Is in the Air when I let out an uncharitable chuckle.  It is also pretty easy to see where this is going, particularly if you are familiar with the romantic comedy formula.  At the same time, it is a perfectly harmless and innocent flick to put on to pass an hour and a half.