Wednesday, June 20, 2007

THE TIMES critics choose their 20 favourite scenes of romantic passion

Source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1927445.ece

Screening on Wednesday, June 20, 2007

1 Comments:

Blogger Fong Kok Hoong said...

From The Times
June 14, 2007

Tell us your favourite romantic scene
You’ll swoon, you’ll thrill. Times critics choose their 20 favourite scenes of romantic passion.
Our critics' choice of the 20 most romantic film scenes

The Way We Were
Sydney Pollack, 1973
Barbra Streisand’s communist sees Robert Redford’s conservative across the street. As they hold each other, the pain of separation is etched indelibly on their faces.

Dirty Dancing
Emile Adorlino, 1987
Bad boy Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) gets romantic. He turns on the music, lights a few candles and introduces uptight Baby Houseman (Jennifer Grey) to the secret world of dry humping. Phwoor!

Gone With the Wind
Victor Fleming, 1939
Among many options, what about Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler roughly kissing Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara? “I want you to faint,” he says over her protests. “This is what you were meant for.”

Pillow Talk
Michael Gordon, 1959
Scandalous at the time, the wonders of split-screen technology enable Rock Hudson and Doris Day to be shown naked in the bath (with an appropriate sudsy cover-up), separated only by a thin black line.

Now, Voyager
Irving Rapper, 1942
Bette Davis is the middle-aged spinster on the balcony, gazing lovingly into the eyes of Italian smoothy Paul Henreid. He wants to marry her, but she says: “Don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.”

Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee, 2005
The perfect example of romantic longing, Lee’s film concludes as Heath Ledger’s ranch hand Ennis opens his trailer wardrobe to reveal two shirts belonging to his late lover Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal). It’s almost impossible to hold back the tears at the thought of their tragic affair.

Together
Lukas Moodysson, 2000
A relationship that has been on the verge of breakdown throughout the film is reignited with a kiss right at the end. Later, Moodysson dropped uplifting endings – but this one made you want to hug a stranger.

Chasing Amy
Kevin Smith, 1997
On a rainy New Jersey night Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) makes a play for lesbian best friend Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) with one of the most impassioned speeches in all of screen romance.

In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar Wai, 2000
Sheltering from a Hong Kong downpour, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung’s unconsummated love finally gets physical for one electrifying moment. With his hand clasping her arm before they part company for ever, it’s arguably the most sensual embrace cinema has seen.

Before Sunset
Richard Linklater, 2004
Although his 1995 original Before Sunrise probably has the edge on all-over sweetness, it’s hard to beat the moment from Linklater’s sequel when the hipster American author Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is given an impromptu musical performance by the kooky French environmentalist Celine (Julie Delpy). They’ve been flirting playfully and guardedly all morning, and then she hits him with an acoustic version of Delpy’s own song A Waltz For a Night. She stares into his eyes while she sings: “My heart will stay yours until I die.” He gets the message. And so do we. Sigh.

Ghost
Jerry Zucker, 1990
Starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, then at the height of their Hollywod powers. When he reappears at the end, standing on a pathway made of clouds to say his final goodbye, she realises that true love does indeed last for ever. A film that summed up the feelgood Nineties.

Sideways
Alexander Payne, 2004
Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen are sipping a couple of glasses of red late at night, sharing intimacies about their mutual passion for wine. Giamatti, ever the wine snob, gives an impassioned speech about the pinot grape, and it becomes clear that he’s talking about himself. “It’s a hard grape to grow. It’s thin-skinned, temperamental,” he says. “Pinot needs constant care and attention.” He soon realises that Virginia Madsen is falling for him. She lays her hand on his and smiles. He panics and blows the moment, but for a brief moment it’s absolutely perfect.

Four Weddings and a Funeral
Mike Newell, 1994
They feel it in their fingers, we feel it in our toes. Love is all around as Andie MacDowell arrives, soaked through, on Hugh Grant’s doorstep. Their final kiss seals their love and sparks a generation of Richard Curtis-scripted romantic comedies.

Brief Encounter
David Lean, 1945
In love but married to others, Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson end their affair in the café where they first met. He places a hand on her shoulder before walking out of her life. Her expression is heartbreaking.

West Side Story
Robert Wise, 1961
Reformed Jet Tony (Richard Beymer) and virginal Latina love Maria (Natalie Wood) share an embrace moments before his violent death. “There’s a place for us,” sings Tony.

Love Story
Arthur Hiller, 1970
What can be more romantic, in movie terms, than holding your dying lover? Such is the fate of Ryan O’Neal’s “preppy millionaire” as he cradles his cancer-stricken wife (Ali MacGraw) in hospital.
The King and I Walter Lang, 1956
Yul Brynner's King of Siam and Deborah Kerr’s English teacher finally fall into each others’ arms, dancing to the sound of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Shall we Dance? Their charisma sweeps you off your feet.

Monsoon Wedding
Mira Nair, 2001
Wedding planner P. K. Dubey falls for Alice the maid. I particularly like the scene where Dubey watches Alice as she tries on the bride’s wedding jewellery. The simplicity of that moment is a potent contrast to the extravagance of the wedding surrounding them.

An Officer and a Gentleman
Taylor Hackford, 1982
Pure Hollywood hokum, but all the more affecting for it, the finale is a glorious guilty pleasure: fresh from American Gigolo (1980), Richard Gere turns Romeo as he crosses the factory floor in his sparkling white naval uniform to claim his girl. Picking up Debra Winger's blue-collar lass he marches out to the sound of her cheering peers, as Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker's ballad reminds us that love lifts us up where we belong – just in case we hadn't already got that complex piece of symbolism.

Casablanca
Michael Curtiz, 1942
On a rain-drenched airport tarmac, Humphrey Bogart's cynical Rick makes the ultimate sacrifice: providing safe passage for the Resistance hero Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). Risking his own life, he gives up the woman he loved, while leaving generations of lovers with the phrase: ‘We'll always have Paris.’ Steven Soderbergh's failed attempt to emulate the scene in The Good German (2006) just goes to show they don't make 'em like they used to.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 11:17:00 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home