Movies for Valentine’s Day – 10 Romantic Movies to Make Your Heart Sigh
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Jack in Best of..., TV & Movies
The Champagne is on ice and a box of Thorntons chocolates lie open beside the 12 blood red roses in a vase on the coffee table. All you need to do now is to pick a heart-achingly romantic movie to slip into the DVD player before snuggling up on the settee with the valentine of your choice.
Here are ten suggestions for romantic movies that should come with a box of man-sized tissues attached.
Titanic (1997)
You know the story, unsinkable ship crosses the Atlantic, hits an iceberg and…well I don’t want to give the ending away. This is the love story of Jack (Leo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), a couple from opposite ends of society whose destiny was shaped when they decided a nice ‘cruise’ was just what the doctor ordered. I could have cried till I died at this one.
Out of Africa (1985)
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills…”
The first line of the movie sends a shiver of anticipation down my spine every time I watch it. Possibly the most beautiful looking love story ever filmed, Kenya acts as an epic backdrop to Karen Blixen’s story of love on the African plains. Meryl Streep is convincing as ever and Robert Redford is dashing as Denys Finch-Hatton. Even the soundtrack makes your heart soar.
Cold Mountain (2003)
Jude Law endures all manner of horrors in his quest to escape the madness of the American Civil War and return to Cold Mountain and his raison d’être, Nicole Kidman. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Renée Zellweger, Natalie Portman and Brendan Gleeson help make this much more than a love story, but love story it is and you better have that box of tissues within arm’s reach.
Romeo and Juliet (1996)
Is there a more romantic story than the bard’s tale of two star cross’d lovers in fair Verona? Transported to modern day America, but retaining Shakespeare’s dialogue spiced up with a thumping soundtrack, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet could have been a disaster. Instead it’s a triumph. The moment when Romeo (Leo DiCaprio again) and Juliet (Clare Danes) first see each other through a fish tank swells the heart to bursting proportions.
Atonement (2007)
James McAvoy with a stiff upper lip, amongst other things, and Keira Knightly in a dress, which must rank as one of the most beautiful ever designed, steal your breath in a captivating story of love and destructive jealousy during WWI. Gorgeously filmed and heartbreaking to watch.
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
Richard Gere is irresistible in his officer whites and I fell in love with Debra Winger when I saw the move at the cinema. As for the song…somebody sticks a basketball sized lump in my throat every time I hear it. An uplifting tale of romance between an Officer (and a Gentleman) and a factory worker. Love really does lift us up where we belong.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Great title and a truly original plot. Jim Carrey is astonishingly subdued for him, and the better for it, as the ordinary Joe who falls ‘head over’ for kooky Kate Winslet. But is it for the first time? If you believe that you want to completely erase all memories of those you once loved, this might make you think again.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The movie which grabbed controversial headlines for being about ‘gay cowboys’ is one of the most sensitive and heart-wrenching love stories that I’ve ever seen. Jake Gyllenhaal is wonderful, but it’s Heath Ledger who really pulls at your heart strings as the farmhand desperately trying to come to terms with his ‘forbidden love’. A movie which leaves you feeling terribly sad and a little bit angry.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
The tale of slowly blossoming love between a suicidal alcoholic, determined to drink himself to death, and a cheap hooker might sound about as romantic as standing on a cowpat, but true love exists in the darkest of places. Las Vegas and a smoky sexy jazz score add to a mood which veers from funny to grim and intoxicating to sobering. You’ll need a drink after watching this…but you might not want one.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
What do you mean you thought this was a kung fu movie? This is one of the most dignified love stories on celluloid. Ang Lee’s stunning-looking movie about two Chinese warriors pursuing a stolen sword is really more about the unrequited love affair between Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. Don’t leave anything inflammable close to the TV set – the way these two look at each other with seriously repressed passion sends sparks flying.
You’d better believe that it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Of course these are a purely personal choice and you might be crying ‘what about Casablanca, Pride and Prejudice, or Brief Encounter?’
There are loads of great tearjerkers out there, so feel free to add your choices of what made the salty rivers run to the list.
Jack Montgomery
Author for the online friendship and dating site Sparkle; co-author of two travel guidebooks, blogger and seriously bad poet.
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