The best love stories in film
Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
Laura (Celia Johnson) and Alec (Trevor Howard) meet in a train station’s refreshment room. Laura has a bit of dirt in her eye and Alec, a doctor, helps her get it out. They talk until their trains arrive and like each other enough to meet again the following week. They’re both married, and seemingly happy, but there is something exciting and completely ordinary about their connection. Romance is made from close-ups and unattainable fantasies. Laura and Alec want only each other, but cannot break from the patterns of their lives—their time together can only be re-lived in Laura’s voiceover. Brief Encounter turns every train whistle into a deadline. Every camera movement is imbued with the emotion these lovers cannot express. –HW
Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
In Before Sunrise (1995), Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) met on a train and briefly fell in love for one night. They exchanged only first names, but agreed to meet at the Vienna train station in six months. In Before Sunset (2004), we learn they never did. Celine’s grandmother died and with nothing more than Jesse’s first name, she was unable to get in touch with him. Nine years later, Jesse, now married, has recently published a book about his initial encounter with Celine. He’s doing a reading at a Paris bookshop, Celine shows up, and the two reconnect. Despite their time apart, Jesse and Celine’s feelings for each other have remained the same. The love between them can be felt in all that they cannot express in words. Jesse ultimately misses his flight back to America. –SP
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)
It is the 1960s in Hong Kong. Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung) move into adjacent apartments with their spouses. Their building is all tight corners, narrow hallways, and pleasantries. In the Mood for Love pulls Chow and Su together with a rhythm of him, then her, in visual echoes. As they fall for each other, they realize their spouses are having an affair. Their unconsummated romance is thrown into a state of yearning; they define themselves by “not being like them.” The cinematography captures this yearning in each image, be it Chow’s lonely cigarette smoke curling against a ceiling, or Su’s dizzying descent of a staircase, replayed until she seems both caught and in flight. –HW
Graphic | Hana Nikčević
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”0px|0px|25.9062px|0px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.84″]You’ve Got Mail (Nora Ephron, 1998)
The quintessential 90s romantic comedy. Kathleen (Meg Ryan) owns a children’s bookstore in the Upper West Side of New York. The opening of Joe’s (Tom Hanks)
family’s bookstore chain, Fox Books, serves as a threat to Kathleen’s independent shop. Although they’re rivals in real life, Kathleen and Joe are falling in love with each other online, through AOL, and know each other only as “NY152” and “Shopgirl.” Eventually, “NY152” reveals his identity to Kathleen and the pair can be together. You’ve Got Mail is a film that I return to for its cozy feeling—it’s wholesome, sweet, and always makes me cry. Also worth mentioning is Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (1940), the source material for You’ve Got Mail. –SP
Say Anything… (Camera Crowe, 1989)
At his high school graduation, Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) falls for valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye). He is a self-proclaimed “nobody” and she has a fellowship lined up in England. He calls her, and she agrees to a date, wanting to connect with her classmates before she leaves. Say Anything… is an end of high school romance, caught on the precipice of “real life.” Their time together is both timeless and brief. A graduation party and a night spent in a car in a thunderstorm last forever—and their responsibilities arrive too quickly. Diane’s father embezzles funds from the retirement home he runs, and Lloyd’s friend is suicidal. Yes, Say Anything… has the now famous boombox serenade, but the film says a lot about living well: with consideration, joy, and honesty. –HW
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012)
Frances (Greta Gerwig) is “undateable”—the love story in Frances Ha is one of platonic love. Her best friend and roommate, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), drops out of their lease to move in with another friend from college, leading to a falling out between the pair. We see Frances move from apartment to apartment, unable to get her life together and move on from the hurt of Sophie leaving her. All Frances wants is a single moment—to be at a party, make eye contact with the person she loves from across the room, and to know that they’re her person. After a moment of realization, however, she finally finds her footing and sees that Sophie can still be her person despite their different directions in life. –SP
The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)
In the mid 19th century, Ada (Holly Hunter), a mute Scotswoman, is sold into marriage by her father. She is sent with her daughter and her grand piano to New Zealand, where she meets her husband, a rural colonizer (Sam Neil). The love story is not with him, but his friend, Baines (Harvey Keitel), who lives with the Māori people. When Ada and Baines meet, The Piano shoots them intimately, using the conventions of melodrama to suggest they are meant to be together. But their love is never clean or comfortable. To buy back her piano, Ada must perform for Baines. They create a relationship of exhibition and exploitation centered around music. There is great beauty in The Piano, but it is never without the violent histories of colonialism and sexism. –HW
Weekend (Andrew Haigh, 2011)
Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) meet at a bar, and what would normally remain a one-night stand becomes something more. They spend the weekend together, but their time is limited. On Sunday, Glen is leaving England to move to Oregon for a two-year art program. They share stories of past hook-ups and their experiences of coming-out. Every conversation feels honest—nothing is off-limits. In their last moment together at the train station, I found myself wishing that Glen would stay. The brevity of their love, however, makes it all the more meaningful. –SP
Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
When Keng (Banlop Lomnoi), a young soldier, meets Tong (Sakda Kaewbuadee), a farmhand, there’s no cinematic emphasis. Tropical Malady treats their encounter with the same patient gaze it lends every image. But Keng and Tong meet again in the city, and soon they spend hours together. The men flirt in small gestures and brief glances, at the movies and during karaoke performances. Just as this realism begins to feel inadequate, Tropical Malady transforms: The second half of the film is a re-telling, or perhaps a continuation of the first half’s romance, through the lens of a Thai folk tale. A tiger-shaman (Kaewbuadee again) hunts an unnamed soldier (Lomnoi again) through the jungle and the pent-up desire of the film’s first half is finally released, both spiritual and animalistic. –HW
Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)
In Rome for her European tour, Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) becomes fed-up with the constraints of royalty. She flees from the control of her guardians to explore Rome on her own, and meets Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). As a reporter, Joe sees this as an opportunity for an exclusive story and withholds his career from Ann. They spend the day together, with his photographer Irving (Eddie Albert) trailing along. Joe ultimately decides to scrap the article, realizing that he has fallen in love with Ann. The next day, at a press conference, the two meet again, and Ann becomes aware of his occupation. Irving hands over his photos to the princess, and Joe and Ann say their final goodbyes. –SP
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