Romance

After Sex / Post coïtum animal triste (1997) Brigitte Roüan, Patrick Chesnais, Boris Terral, Drama, Romance

After Sex (1997)
Diane, a Parisian of 50, a book editor married with two teen children, has an affair with a twenty-something engineer. He’s Emilio, the flat-mate of François, a writer she’s coaxing through a second novel. Her husband Philippe, who suspects and then confirms her infidelity, is the attorney defending an older neighbor who stuck a fork in her husband’s jugular. We know Diana’s affair will end, but how much damage will it do? Will Philippe emulate his murderous client, or will Diana’s bathos play out as farce? Can Diana rescue herself from the self-indulgence that comes with lovesickness?
Read More »

Soldaat van Oranje / Soldier of Orange (1977) Paul Verhoeven, Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, Susan Penhaligon, Drama, Romance, Thriller

Soldier of Orange (1977)
Soldier of Orange (Dutch: Soldaat van Oranje) is a 1977 Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven and produced by Rob Houwer, starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé. The film is set during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, and shows how individual students have different roles in the war. The story is based on the book Soldaat van Oranje by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who lived the story himself.
The film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. The film is considered to be one of the two best Dutch films made in the 20th century.
Read More »

Boy Meets Girl (1984) Leos Carax, Denis Lavant, Mireille Perrier, Carroll Brooks, Drama, Romance

Boy Meets Girl (1984)
Paris by night. Alex, 22, wants to become a filmmaker. He is fascinated by first times and his girlfriend, Florence, has just left him for his best friend, Thomas. First break-up, first attempted murder: Alex tries to strangle Thomas, but gives up and wanders the streets. That evening, Mireille, a girl from provincial France who has come up to Paris to make commercials, is left by her boyfriend. Alex witnesses this separation. These two tormented souls run into each other at a party….
Read More »

Lust och fägring stor / All Things Fair (1995) Bo Widerberg, Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz, Tomas von Brömssen, Drama, Romance, War

All Things Fair (1995)
Malmö, Sweden during the Second World War. Stig is a 15 year old pupil on the verge of adulthood. Viola is 37 years old and his teacher. He is attracted by her beauty and maturity. She is drawn to him by his youth and innocence, a god-sent relief from her drunk and miserable husband. They start a passionate and forbidden relationship – but it has consequences they never could have expected.
Read More »

Gabriela (1983) Bruno Barreto, Sonia Braga, Marcello Mastroianni, Antonio Cantafora, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Erotic

Gabriela
In 1925, Gabriela becomes cook, mistress, and then wife of Nacib, a bar owner in a small Brazilian coastal town runs by the local colonels. Nacib becomes tired of Gabriela’s uneducated ways, and annuls the marriage when he finds her in bed with his friend Tonico. The political ways of the town modernize slightly and Gabriela returns as Nacib’s mistress.
Read More »

Splash (1984) Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Splash (1984)
Allen Bauer is rescued from drowning as a young boy off Cape Cod by a young mermaid. Years later, he returns to the same location, and once again manages to fall into the sea, and is rescued once more by the mermaid (Allen isn’t sure what he has seen and what he has imagined). Using maps from a sunken ship, the mermaid decides to search for Allen in New York City, sprouting legs when her tail dries. On finding Allen, they fall in love, but she has a secret, which will no longer be a secret if she gets her legs wet.
Read More »

Tendres cousines (1980) David Hamilton, Thierry Tevini, Anja Schüte, Valérie Dumas, Drama, Romance, Erotic

Tendres cousines (1980)
Summer 1939 in the Provence, France: the 14 years old Julien has a crush on his cousin Julia, who lives together with his family in their small hotel. Unfortunately she ignores him, because she’s several years older. Then the hotel guest Charles enters the competition, a slimy twenty-something who lusts for the girl, despite the fact that he’s engaged.
Read More »

Notorious (1946) Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Film-Noir, Romance, Drama

Notorious (1946)
In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) recruits Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.
Read More »

Le bonheur / Happiness (1935) Marcel L’Herbier, Gaby Morlay, Charles Boyer, Paulette Dubost, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Le bonheur AKA Happiness (1935)
Released in English-speaking countries as Happiness, Le Bonheur was based on a play by Henry Bernstein. Charles Boyer stars as a fervent anarchist who vows to kill anyone who represents “the establishment.” As a result, he ends up shooting idolized music-hall singer Gaby Morlay in full view of her audience. After this unpromising start, Boyer and Morlay get to know each other, eventually falling in love. At his attempted-murder trial, Morlay offers to testify on Boyer’s behalf – but he refuses, determined to become a martyr to his cause. Things work out in a most unexpected fashion in this offbeat romance, released in the U.S. in 1935 to capitalize on Boyer’s burgeoning American popularity.
Read More »

In Gay Madrid (1930) Robert Z. Leonard, Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, Lottice Howell, Drama, Musical, Romance

In Gay Madrid (1930)
Ricardo, a young law student in his home town of Madrid, is a carefree playboy who loves nightclubs and courting pretty girls. His father hopes to instill a more serious attitude in his son by transferring him to a school in the rural town of Santiago. At Santiago, his father’s old friend is to be his guardian. When Ricardo arrives at Santiago he joins a fraternity, and continues his carefree lifestyle while serenading and courting his guardian’s daughter, Carmina. But when Ricardo’s former girlfriend Goyita arrives for a visit, events take a serious turn …
Read More »

Down in the Valley (2005) David Jacobson, Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse, Drama, Romance, Thriller

Down in the Valley (2005)
Tobe is a teenage girl in a dysfunctional American family, but one that appears both realistically normal and deeply embedded in suburbia. This is the landscape of Spielberg, but the family, inadequate father, rebellious daughter and quasi-autistic stepson, seems alienated and distant from the world around it. Into this milieu drifts Harlan, a young man whose roots are at least partially fantasised, part cowboy part movie cliche, and whose reality remains unclear. The pair embark on a romance that threatens her father, captivates her little brother and is destructive to them all. The sparse writing avoids cliche in this subtle, ethereal, independent film that is thought provoking in its mock simplicity.
Read More »

Overboard (1987) Garry Marshall, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Edward Herrmann, Comedy, Romance

Overboard (1987)
Snobbish and wealthy Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is living a life of leisure with her husband, Grant (Edward Herrmann), when she falls off their yacht and suffers amnesia. Grant takes the opportunity to rid himself of the demanding Joanna – but Dean (Kurt Russell), a widowed carpenter with four kids who once worked for Joanna, arrives and claims she’s his wife. Joanna can’t remember her past identity, but has trouble believing that she was ever meant to be a working-class mother of four.
Read More »

Xiao cheng zhi chun / Spring in a Small Town (1948) Mu Fei, Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Drama, Romance

Xiao cheng zhi chun AKA Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Following WWII and with China brought to it’s knees by the actions of the Japanese, prior to the rise of the Communists, led by Chairman Mao. This is the time during which Fei Mu’s film takes place. Wei Wei plays a woman who lives a lonely life, shackled by her care for her gentle, but ill husband (Shi Yu)- that is until her first love reappears into her life. This is Fei’s penultimate film as director, but is still enjoyed by many today as one of his best works. It has now been a firm favorite of many since it was restored in the 80’s by the China Film Archive and some rate it as one of the greatest Chinese movies in history.
Read More »

Mystic Pizza (1988) Donald Petrie, Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Mystic Pizza (1988)
Sisters Kat and Daisy work along with Jojo at the pizza parlour in Mystic, Connecticut. Kat, shortly off to Yale, finds herself drawn to a local architect she is babysitting for, while her more tearaway sister starts dating a guy from the money side of the tracks. Jojo leaves her man at the altar; she loves him but shies away from commitment. Meanwhile the fame of the pizza continues to spread; it seems to contain something almost….. mystic.
Read More »