A comparison between the best romantic movies of all times
We all want love in our
lives, because love is the best sentiment that was given to us. This is the
reason why the most successful films are the romantic ones.
But what is a romantic movie?
According to Wikipedia romantic films are romantic love stories that focus on passion, emotion and the affectionate romantic
involvement of the main characters and the journey that their genuinely strong,
true and pure romantic
love takes them through dating, courtship or marriage. Romance films make the romantic
love story or the search for strong
and pure love and romance the main plot focus. Occasionally, romance lovers
face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of
discrimination, psychological restraints or family that threaten to break their
union of love. As in all quite strong, deep and close romantic relationships, tensions of
day-to-day life, temptations (of infidelity) and differences in compatibility
enter into the plots of romantic films. Romantic films often explore the
essential themes of love at first sight, young with older love, unrequited romantic
love, obsessive love, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden love/ romance,
platonic love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love explosive and
destructive love and tragic love. Romantic films serve as great escapes and
fantasies for viewers, especially if the 2 people finally overcome their
difficulties, declare their love and experience life 'happily ever after',
implied by a reunion and final kiss. In romantic television series, the development of
such romantic
relationships may play out over many episodes and different characters may become intertwined in different romantic
arcs.
The tone of
romance film can vary greatly. Whether the end is happy or tragic, romance film
aims to evoke strong emotions in the audience; they can often leave you wishing for
a different, happier version of the ending. Fortunately for those of us who
still believe in happy endings, there are still enough diehard romantic
screenwriters around to write the fairy tale ending to a majority of romance
movies.
Common themes include the characters making
decisions based on a newly-found romantic attraction. The questions, 'What am I
living for?' or 'Why am I with my current partner?' often arise.
The appeal of these films is in the
dramatic reality of the emotions expressed by the characters. The most successful
romantic
film is the 1997 blockbuster Titanic which grossed over $600 million in
America and $1.8 billion, worldwide. Another prerequisite is that the film has
a happy ending (or at least bittersweet) and many would argue that no film with
a sad ending may be correctly defined as romance; however, this second prerequisite is
admittedly disputable and many screenwriters and directors will push the
boundaries of the genre in this aspect.
Romance
sub-genres films:
Romantic-action-comedy
– are
films that blend romantic comedy and action.
Romantic-comedy (abbreviated as rom coms or romcoms and
sometimes known as chick flicks) – are films with
light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true
love is able to surmount most obstacles. Humor in such films tends to be of a
verbal, low-key variety or situational, as opposed to slapstick. Romantic-comedy film revolves around a romantic
ideal, such as true love. In the end the ideal triumphs over the situation or
obstacle. Romantic
comedy films are a sub-genre of comedy films as well as of romance films and often have
elements of screwball comedies and stoner comedies. Romantic
comedy can also be used to describe some television series.
Romantic-drama – are films where
the plot usually revolves around an obstacle which prevents deep and true romantic
love between 2 people. Music is often employed to indicate the emotional mood,
creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The obstacles in romantic
drama film can range from a family's disapproval, to forbidden love, to one's
own psychological restraints. Many romantic dramas end with the lovers separating
because of the enormity of the obstacle, the realization of incompatibility or
simply because of fate.
Romantic-thriller/
horror – the storyline
is combined with elements of the romance film and the thriller genre.
According to Wikipedia
there is a 5th genre named chick flick. This represents a slang term for a film genre mainly dealing with love
and romance
and designed to appeal to a largely female target audience. Although
many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, 'chick flick' is
typically used only in reference to films that are heavy with emotion or
contain themes that are relationship-based (although not necessarily romantic
as many other themes may be present). Chick flicks often are released en masse
around Valentine's Day. Generally, a chick flick is a film designed to have an innate appeal to
women, typically young women. Defining a film a chick flick is, as the New York Times has stated, more of a
parlor game than a science. These films are generally held in popular culture
as having formulaic, paint-by-numbers plot lines and characters. This makes
usage of the term 'problematic' for implying 'frivolity, artlessness and utter
commercialism', according to ReelzChannel. However, several chick flicks have received high critical acclaim for their
stories and performances, like the movie 'Terms of endearment’ 1983. Some
frequent elements of chick flicks
include having a female protagonist, thematic use of the color pink (along with
metaphorical allusions of the color) and romance and/ or dating based storylines. The 1961
film Breakfast
at Tiffany's, commonly known as one of
the 'classic' films from the golden age of cinema, is sometimes considered as
an early chick flick due to common elements such as dealing with loneliness,
obsessive materialism, and happy endings.
The term chick flick is often
associated with romance
films as many are targeted to a female audience. Although many romance
films may be targeted at women, this is not a defining characteristic of a romance
film and a chick flick does not necessarily have a romance as a central theme, revolve
around the romantic
involvement of characters or even contain a romantic relationship. As such, the
terms cannot be used interchangeably.
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Everything in this world
is subjective, so, anyone of us has his favorite romantic movie or
moment from a romantic movie.
As a reminder of this favorite romantic movies or moments I decided to
make a comparison between 10 sites with their opinion about this matter.
Frankly, it became an interesting surprise. On some sites there are included
only American movies (AFI) or international film, on others the movies are
chosen based on the rating given by their readers/ members, on some the movies
are chosen 'for
their direction, script, acting, cinematography, storyline, originality and
success'.
Writing
this article I remembered some movies and about others, that was the first time
I heard about them. As a movie fan, they made me curious and gave me the desire
to see them.
Enjoy
my list and make your own choice.
Last uptade: 2nd
February, 2014.
