Doomed Romance -- Ain't nothing like it!
Mar 18 '01 (Updated Mar 19 '01)
The Bottom Line Doomed lovers, love gone bad, love gone wrong. Great for a good cry.
Ah, a romance. Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl, and it's happy ever after, right? Not with these ten. Somehow, it's the ones where love doesn't lead to a happy ending that have caught at our hearts and memories.
Shakespeare and opera composers have known this one for centuries. You've got Romeo and Juliet (all time winner for screwed up lovers), Hamlet, Othello, Tosca, Lucia di Lammermoor, oh list goes on and on. Love gone wrong is still the best way to get your audience wrapped up in your characters as any writer will tell you.
So here's my take on ten couples that should have gotten together, but fate, family, war and what have you keeps them apart; most of these are historical films, back then Love wasn't quite so easy as we have it today it seems. Make sure you have a box of tissues handy.
Warning: these descriptions contain SPOILERS which give away some major plot details in some cases.
10. The End of the Affair Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes. This one should have gotten better notice when it was out. Smart, intelligent, and the hero and heroine are not starry-eyed teenagers, which makes it a great pick for the over thirty crowd. Set in WWII London, it covers an adulterous affair that mysteriously ends, with the hero finding out the why later. A moving story about fidelity, love, and faith.
9. Queen Margot It's Protestant versus Catholic in Renaissance France. Marguerite marries someone she doesn't love for politics' sake, meets a dashing young man at the wedding, and fate conspires to keep them apart, with him ultimately loosing his life for a crime he didn't commit. Adapted from the novel by Dumas, it's graphic, gory, and tragic. In French, but the subtitles don't interfere that much. Heavy R rating, not for children of any age.
8. Onegin This is the one with Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler. A no-show at the box-office it's worth a peek for the costumes and sets, if nothing else. It also is a pretty good adaptation of the poem by Pushkin. Young innocent girl falls for cold aristocratic man, confesses all, and he cruelly rejects her, telling her that love never lasts. Along the way you get a duel, and she marries someone else. Their paths cross years later, and you get a twist on the story. R rating for the dueling sequence.
7. Stealing Heaven An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Marion Meade, it's the true, tragic tale of Abelard and Heloise. Too smart young miss gets to go live with her uncle in Paris in the 12th century, meets the brilliant mind of the times, the scholar Abelard. Of course they're gonna fall in love! But they can't legally marry, they still get hitched, and Uncle takes a nasty revenge for messing around with his niece: he has Abelard castrated. Both injured parties go off and take the veil - he an abbot, she an abbess. What is interesting is that their romance continued, in a long series of love letters that still make good reading today. Unrated, but probably an R rating for nudity, sex; not for youngsters.
6. Cleopatra Yep, that old warhorse with Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison. This grand old dinosaur was the death blow to the extravagant sand and sandal epics. But what a way to go! Young Egyptian princess Cleopatra (Taylor) first romances Julius Caesar (Harrison) and when the ides of March come and go, she then gets her interest pegged by Mark Anthony (Burton). They scheme, fail, and both commit suicide as their world goes up in flames around them. Not that historically accurate with the costumes and hairstyles, and most of the dialogue is lifted from Shakespeare's plays. Who cares, it's still a rollicking romp of a film. Hollywood at its most bloated, and besides, who can top riding into Rome on a giant statue of the Sphinx? G rated.
5. City of Angels Finally, a modern setting on my list. The angel Seth (Nicholas Cage) gives up eternity for a doctor (Meg Ryan). You think that it would work, but no, heroine dies, of course and our hero is stuck with a mortal body, mortal lifespan and no girl. Sigh. Ok, so it's not that bad - good music, great effects, and Cage has an innocent, ligher role than most of his usual castings. Watch for Dennis Franz and Andre Braugher as fellow angels in supporting roles. Great date movie.
4. The Wings of the Dove Young woman (Helena Bonham-Carter) is a charity case of her aunt, and is in love with an equally penniless young man (Linus Roache). She has a friend, a fabulously wealthy American girl, and schemes to have him fall in love with her; she convince the American to leave the money to her boyfriend, thinking that once the oppostion is dead, they can go off and be happy ever after. Of course, it's not going to work out that way. Bonham Carter in a role that does not show her as a sweet young thing. Great visuals, and a Venice that glows. R rating.
3. The Age of Innocence Adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel set in 19th century New York High Society. Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfieffer are the doomed pair, with society's standards and morals to keep them apart. Winona Rider is his fiancée, and the story has a twist at the end, when you find out who the real villain of the story is. Superb costumes, and a genuine feel for the period. Also the most erotic sequence imaginable involving a carriage and a glove, and nothing else. PG rated.
2. Dangerous Liaisons The 80's version with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfieffer. Also Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves (really!) as two innocents who get really messed up by the two schemers. Best rendition so far of the novel, picked up several Oscars, and is smart, witty, visually and musically perfect. The story revolves around adultery, revenge, ruined innocence, and ultimately, redemption. The sex and violence is graphic, so heed that R rating - not for the young.
1. The English Patient You either love it, or you hate it. Beautifully filmed, with Ralph Fiennes (what is with him in these icy aristocrat roles anyway?) and Kirstin Scott Thomas as the doomed pair in the desert on the eve of World War II. Fabulous supporting cast, with Juliette Binoche getting an Oscar nod, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, Willem Dafoe and Jurgen Purchnow.
Great movies for dates, what can I say?
There is a reason why I didn't pick obvious films like Titanic, Romeo and Juliet (any of them) and that's simply because they are so well known, and that they didn't quite get to the level of emotional involvement that these ten do. I decided to try for some lesser known films that should have been noticed a bit more.
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Member: Rebecca Huston
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