If you found the brief montage of the old man’s marriage in Pixar’s “Up” deeply moving then you might understand why this ad currently running on UK TV screens has had a similar impact on many viewers.
It was made for John Lewis, one of Britain’s most successful (and best loved) retail chains.
In about 90 seconds it compresses the whole life of a woman from babyhood to grandmotherhood. Only at the end is it revealed as an ad and even that is done in an understated way.

It’s a simple, linear narrative, with no particular surprises. But it is beautifully, beautifully done. And if you’re honest, it makes you yearn to be that woman – or for your wife or mother or sister to be that woman – and, of course, for your whole life to be cosseted in nice things from John Lewis.

Everything about the clip is out of sync with much of what we see on TV or in the cinema. It’s not gritty, violent, erotic or edgy. It’s incredibly old fashioned with it’s overarching message of family values and loving relationships constant through the buffets of time.
It’s just an ad – but it contains a message that says more about conservative values than a whole library of academic tomes.