Love at first sight

Can't say I know much about love at first sight, or second, or third...  I once saw a funny Dracula spoof with the title Love at First Bite.

I sometimes wonder how my parents fell in love. (They first met as students at Mount Allison University around 1950.) They were far from the passionate type:  I never saw them kissing.  I'm pretty dispassionate too.

I suppose that love at first sight is a fiction cliche. (You can avoid the difficult business of showing a relationship gradually developing.) One thing I liked about Charles Frazier's Civil War novel Cold Mountain is that the lovers were cautious, even reluctant.  Which is what you'd expect of them in a wartime setting.  I also liked the book's line about slavery: "It made the rich ugly and proud, and it made the poor mean."

The movie of Cold Mountain I can take or leave.  They cast Nicole Kidman as Ada and Renee Zellweger as Ruby. While Renee could have played either role, I saw Nicole more as Ruby.