Romantic Movies

[kafka]

huntergrayson said:

I was going to mention Breakfast at Tiffany's, actually. It's a movie that a lot of people think is romantic, due to the 14-year old girl in them being all "I wanna be Holly Golightly! Oh, yay, Tiffany's!" But try watching it late at night, alone, after having a fight with your S.O. or being dumped. Hey, what do you know, the movie is depressing as hell. Two sad, lonely broken people manage to fall for each other when they aren't selling themselves for money or running away from their issues/traumatic childhood.

I think it's depressing even WITHOUT having a fight with your S.O. or being dumped. Mostly because of what you summed up so well in the last sentence. Also, I generally get irritated by the character type of "the flighty, ditzy, wide-eyed ingenue.... Oh [gush], isn't she charming, wonderful and adorable? Isn't she just precious?" Gah. It's like nails down a chalk board for me, not just in movies but in most things, from books to real life. (The Shopaholic books were about nothing else and I was so revolted, I threw the book across the room.)

But the new Great Expectations is romantic as all get-out. The scene where he walks in from the rain and asks her to dance? Gorgeous. Cuaron is such a wonderfully visual director without being overly "showy". (it probably helps that I never read the book so I can't be all devastated at the changes...)

Part of my problem is that I never liked the book or the story. And, filmwise, I can't get past my loathing of Gwhiney to tolerate even the glorious Anne Bancroft. Plus, Gwhiney playing a haughty, cold, ice princess? Such a stretch..... I had a hard time distinguishing between "Estella" and Gwhiney but, in both cases, a small voice in my head kept saying, "Why would you want to be with her?! Why? Run for your life, man, run." That kinda defeats the whole romantic point of the film, ya know. ;D

[huntergrayson]

Ha, I knew the Gwyneth is just playing herself thing would come up! I knew it!

It's so, so very pretty as a film, though - the shot where they're silhouetted under the bridge, the one where she's smoking by the window after sex...Hmm, maybe I'm confusing stunning cinematography and art direction with romance. I hate it when that happens.

[kiran]

Oh, but I loved it too. Just that scene where Ethan Hawke puts Anne Bancroft's hand on his heart and goes "This is my heart. And it is breaking."

Damn you, Ethan. You may be a pretentious asshat, and your looks are quickly fading so you resemble rat boy, but damned if you cant make me cry by being all romantic. See "Snow Falling on Cedars".

[Sukie]

I just watched one of my favorite romantic films last night, Cousins. Ted Danson is great in it and Isabella Rosellini is so beautiful. I saw this movie when it first came out and everytime it's on, I stop and watch it. I love the music in it.

[Deleted]

Annie Hall and When Harry Met Sally are my two favorite romantic movies, and they both remind me why I love New York.

[Deleted]

Cousins is one of the prettiest movies I've seen. I just love how everyone is dressed at all the weddings. The music is pretty angsty too. That gorgeous music almost makes me sympathize with the main characters (if it wasn't for the whole adultery thing...).

[proper stranger]

A thread after my own sappy heart!

Echoing the love for Before Sunrise/Sunset (the way I wrote that makes it look like the prequel to Fiddler on the Roof), Titanic and A Room with a View.

One of my all-time romantic favorites is The Clock, a 1940s movie with Judy Garland and Robert Walker that I'm pretty sure no one else has seen. The basic premise: During WWII, a soldier meets a secretary while on a two-day leave in New York City. Romance ensues as the couple tries to fit an entire courtship into two days. My love for this movie reassures me that I have not let cynicism completely take over my soul. I think of The Clock as a grandfather to Before Sunrise. It shows up fairly often on Turner Classic Movies and I encourage all my fellow romantics to check it out.

ximena said:

Believe it or not, the Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast.

Be not ashamed! It's an amazing, beautiful movie. Just watched it this weekend for the first time in a couple of years and the "death scene" still makes me tear up.

thursdaynext said:

I really like Casablanca but I, too, was left a little cold by the romance. I loved the politics and Peter Lorre's part at the beginning, but the romance was just sort of blah.

Reading this thread makes me so happy that I'm not alone. The romantic aspect of Casablanca is so overrated. I will say, though, that I loved Bogart with Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen.

dwanollah said:

Two movies. One scene. Two lines:

"I love you."
"I know."

Best. Romantic. Exchange. EVER. And the kiss right before it is one of the all-time best, too.

[huntergrayson]

I, too, love the Disney Beauty and the Beast. One of my favorite things I ever bought at Disneyworld was a gorgeous illustrated book that preserved the high quality of the animation. Totally, tres romantic.

That said, I implore everyone to rent Jean Cocteau's french live-action version (also known as La Belle et La Bete). Gloriously poetic, fantastical and romantic. With major grown-up lust from the Beast towards Belle. And Disney stole a lot of the little whimsical stuff from it.

[kafka]

I heartily echo Huntergrayson's comments about La Belle et la Bête.

Speaking of B&W oldies, I can't help liking The Ghost and Mrs Muir and Topper. More modern, and one of my favorite romcoms, is The Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss.

Another rom-com which I enjoy (but probably shouldn't because of how implausible it is) is Mystic Pizza. Julia Roberts irritates me now but back then, she was was genuine and lovely. It's hard to believe how much she's changed. Anyway, it's a funny film and has a great cast. Actually, on further thought, it's the other actors who really make the film.

[WitchyPoo]

The last lines of Before Sunset:

Celine: Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.
Jesse: I know.