Mirror, mirror, on the wall: whose romance is greater than all? Jack and Rose (Titanic)? Who cares. Romeo and Juliet? Amateurs. No movie love affair in my mind has more depth or realism than that of Rocky and Adrian. Even those names together sound cool! What you are about to see is one of the most fair, mature examples of conflict ever made for the silver screen. I've already talked extensively about Rocky, this time I want to focus in a little more specifically on Adrian, to expand on the effects that his unconditional love imprinted on her character. We're going to see many of them come into play in the Rocky III video excerpt below. For the record, I was planning to reflect on this long before I decided to do the Essential series. 
   A little backstory here: Rocky is in LA training with Apollo Creed for the rematch with Clubber Lang, a few short months after taking a severe beating from Lang and losing Mickey in the same night. The two events have taken a tremendous toll on his spirit. Rocky is obviously distracted, and trains half-heartedly as a result. The camera does closeups on Adrian repeatedly during this time, sporting a knowing gaze that something is off about her man.
  Later on the beach, Creed has a foot race with Rocky, employing speed drills to increase his quickness. During the race, flashbacks of Mickey's death, Mickey telling him he has no chance against Lang ("He'll knock ya into tomorrow, Rock..."), and his pummeling at the hands of the stronger opponent flood him, causing him to slow down and stop, staring pensively out at the ocean. At this point, Adrian decides to step in, providing the most emotional, pivotal scene in the whole movie:

  I wanted to show you this so much that I learned how to splice the clip and upload it to YouTube myself! The mushy part at the end was left in for you ladies, but it does illustrate the idea that conflict doesn't always have to make you distant. I've only recently been able to watch it without getting something stuck in my eye, just because of the depth of compassion I hear in it every time.
  This kind of fight is important in that no putdowns are made, no namecalling takes place. It's just two people weathered into years of a deep and comfortable love who can speak (or yell) their peace without fear of toxic backlash. It isn't Adrian vs. Rocky...it's Adrian vs. Rocky's fears, and Mrs. Balboa deals them a devastating TKO.
  There are few things I hate worse in conversation than being interrupted, and I honestly try not to do it myself. Rocky and Adrian are really good here about letting each other finish their sentences. People who are fighting fairly are not so insecure in their own viewpoints that they feel the need to squelch those of the person they're sparring with by talking over them and shouting them down.
  She gets right up in his face without fear and doesn't flinch, nor does she break off her gaze into his eyes when he gets in hers. She doesn't have to. Adrian knows instinctively, through years of precedent, that nothing about Rocky is ever threatening...at least not to her. Another thing I like is, after making a point, she does then look down a little if he's not answering right away. This is a subtle and submissive gesture that indicates respect, giving him the space to relax while considering his response.
  At first he offers her surface answers, laced with a little of that old macho swagger to disguise the ugly truth, which is what Adrian knows is there and doesn't stop digging for. She tears away the layers he offers until she strikes the one he doesn't want her to see: "I'm afraid!" The most vital love cannot settle for less, or else the path to refinement is never embarked upon.
  Most guys hear a woman yelling in their general direction and start wearing that familiar grimace that suggests a trip to the roof is imminent! Ladies, if a man senses this in your voice during these kinds of moments, if he hears an attempt to emasculate or humiliate him...most times you will be summarily tuned out and disregarded. But it's important here to listen to the tone in Adrian's heart, not the one in her voice. She's not fighting with her man...she's fighting for him, with the weapon of her unshakable belief in the man she married. The consistent pattern she's come to know has been disrupted, and it concerns her: "You've never quit anything since I've known you."
  If Rocky's character were not historically consistent, she wouldn't have taken his breakdown quite as seriously, which would have cost him a valuable opportunity to benefit from Adrian's tough love intervention. For years he had been so strong, so protecting of her, no less than her most fierce assault on his lingering demons would do in returning the favor. Even Rocky is taken aback at her fire: "How'd you get so tough?"
  "I live with a fighter!"
  For me, it has become a foregone conclusion that if I'm fortunate enough to ever marry someone like Adrian, I will consider myself an extremely blessed man. May we all learn to love this relentlessly!