Okay I need people to look at these two gifs together:
This gif made by @lousolversons
And this gif by @not-psychotic
THAT IS THE SAME SMILE. THAT IS HUGH DANCY'S ROMCOM SMILE AND I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY HUGH PRESENTS IT FOR EACH MOMENT.
First of all, the moment presented in the first gif is why I believe Will did love Molly. Yes, I'm a firm believer that Will still held feelings for Hannibal while he was with Molly, but I don't think she was a placeholder. The way I think Will's love for Hannibal and Molly works at the same time is like when you meet a widower who remarried.
Yes the widower (Will) still loves his first spouse (Hannibal), and it's terrible that they were ripped apart the way they were, but he can eventually move on. And he loves his new spouse (Molly), but there will always be a part of his heart that belongs to his first spouse. Except in the case of this analogy Hannibal isn't actually dead and he will come back.
And I mean, honestly, if the love of your life died and came back completely in one piece and still loved you after years of separation, what would you do? Would you tell them to move on because you've found someone else that you love almost as much as you loved them? Or would you discard your new spouse for the one you had always imagined you'd stay with? It's a really difficult decision.
But anyway I do wanna analyze these smiles. Obviously in the second gif Will is smiling at Hannibal, but in the first gif, Will is smiling at Jack while talking about Molly. They're the same smile but they're also so different.
In the first gif, the "romcomness" of the smile almost feels exaggerated. It's the way he smiled and kind of laughed but especially it's the way he broke eye contact. He breaks eye contact but the smile stays. It says "Molly and I can't see each other completely, but I'm happy enough." It reads as coy in a way we know Will Graham is not. It's a performance, but it's a performance based on a truth.
On the other hand, in the second gif, Will's smile is there but more subdued. Of course it could be just that he's tired and/or in pain as he's obviously injured, but to me it's lesser because it's just him and Hannibal. He doesn't need to wear his mask for Jack or for Molly or for anyone else. And he keeps eye contact with Hannibal even as his smile falls away because he and Hannibal can see each other. They accept the good (the smile) and the bad (the loss of the smile) in each other but that's okay for them because they're true to each other like they are to no one else.
The way Will smiles at Hannibal in the second gif is so much more intimate than the way he smiled about Molly in the second gif, and I can't help but wonder: if we got more scenes where Will and Molly were interacting face to face (because let's be honest there's not many), would Will smile the same way he did in the second gif? Would he even smile at her the same way he does talking about her in the first gif, or is that just him trying to appear like the happy/satisfied husband in front of company? I know Will loved Hannibal, and I know Will loved Molly, but these two gifs side by side just confirm for me that what he felt for Hannibal was so much more impactful for Will than his love for Molly.
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