Romance

Le milieu du monde / The Middle of the World (1974) Alain Tanner, Olimpia Carlisi, Philippe Léotard, Juliet Berto

Le milieu du monde (1974)
Paul is married, a successful engineer, and a conservative candidate in an upcoming local election. He falls in love with Adriana, a café waitress from Italy. Paul’s party is very critical of foreign labour and wants to keep Switzerland to the Swiss. Where Paul falls deeper and deeper into the relationship and is ready to leave his wife, Adriana feels the social pressure growing and has to make her own decision.
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The House of Mirth (2000) Terence Davies, Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron

The House of Mirth (2000)
Terence Davies’ The House of Mirth is a tragic love story set against a background of wealth and social hypocrisy in turn of the century New York. Lily Bart is a ravishing socialite at the height of her success who quickly discovers the precariousness of her position when her beauty and charm start attracting unwelcome interest and jealousy. Torn between her heart and her head, Lilly always seems to do the right thing at the wrong time. She seeks a wealthy husband and in trying to conform to social expectations, she misses her chance for real love with Lawrence Selden.
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In Name Only (1939) John Cromwell, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis

In Name Only (1939)
While out riding in the country, wealthy New Yorker Alec Walker meets young widow Julie Eden, and a relationship quickly develops. However, Alec has not told her that he is already locked into a loveless marriage to the avaricious Maida, who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife. A completely coincidental car crash alerts the two women to each other’s existence, a situation to which they react very differently.
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Next Time We Love (1936) Edward H. Griffith, Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Ray Milland

Next Time We Love (1936)
In New York, the rookie newsman Christopher “Chris” Tyler dreams on becoming a famous journalist. When his girlfriend Cicely spends a couple of days with him, they decide to get married and Cicely leaves college. Chris’s best friend Tommy Abbott is his best man and becomes a family’s friend. Chris has his great chance when his editor Frank Carteret sends him to Rome assigned as a foreign correspondent. Cicely stays in New York with Tommy and does not tell to Chris that she is pregnant. When she delivers the baby Kit, Chris celebrates and loses a big scoop and his boss fires him. Chris falls in disgrace and the couple has economic difficulties; however Tommy lends money to Cicely and offers an opportunity on the stage as an actress. Cicely is hired and becomes successful and Chris is depressed with the situation. Cicely seeks out Frank Carteret and explains the situation, and he offers a job opportunity to Chris in Russia.
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The Girl from Missouri (1934) Jack Conway, Sam Wood, Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Lionel Barrymore

The Girl from Missouri (1934)
With her pal Kitty, Eadie Chapman escapes from the sleazy roadhouse run by her mother and stepfather, only to become a showgirl. But her former milieu gave her a poor opinion of easy morals, and she plans to preserve her ‘virtue’ until marriage…preferably to a rich husband; while Kitty keeps falling for servants. Will playboy Tom Paige break down Eadie’s resistance before his cynical father intervenes?
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Ninfa plebea / The Nymph (1996) Lina Wertmüller, Stefania Sandrelli, Raoul Bova, Lucia Cara

Ninfa plebea (1996)
In the World War II, in a small Italian village, Nunziata is an easy woman married with the cuckold tailor Gioacchino. Her teenage daughter Miluzza teases men with her clothes and gets men to lust after her. One day, Nunziata dies while having intercourse with an Italian Corporal at home, and Miluzza finds a job in the factory of the wealthy Don Peppe that rapes her. When Miluzza returns home, she learns that Gioacchino has died in the afternoon. Soon there are rumors that Miluzza had an affair with Don Peppe, but her grandfather protects her. Then Miluzza’s village is bombed, her grandpa dies and she moves to another town to live with a friend. When she finds the Italian soldier Pietro wounded in the leg in her house, Miluzza saves his life and helps him to return to his family. Pietro proposes to marry her, but her mother wants to prove that Miluzza is virgin before blessing the marriage of her son.
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Days of Glory (1944) Jacques Tourneur, Gregory Peck, Tamara Toumanova, Alan Reed

Days of Glory (1944)
In late 1941, with the Nazi invasion of Russia still advancing, the Red Army leaves bands of guerillas behind in the forests. One such band is joined by beautiful ballet dancer Nina; initially inept, a series of bitter lessons gradually make her a seasoned soldier. The group still form human attachments, despite the shadow of grim death that makes their greatest hope one of selling their lives dearly…
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Akitsu onsen / Akitsu Springs (1962) Yoshishige Yoshida, Mariko Okada, Hiroyuki Nagato, Sô Yamamura

Akitsu onsen aka Akitsu Springs (1962)
The day before Japan announces its defeat in WW2, a very ill Shusaku arrives in Okayama. He meets Shinko, an innkeeper, who inadvertently gives him the will to live as he spies her crying one day. As romance blossoms, the secret death wish he’d brought with him contends with true love for precedence in their relationship. Based on the book by Shinya Fujiwara.
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Plagio (1969) Sergio Capogna, Ray Lovelock, Mita Medici, Alain Noury

Plagio (1969)
It was the story of a very rich young man who falls in love with a couple who are at college with him. He ‘plagiarises’ them in the sense that in the end he manages to go to bed with both of them. But the young man has problems – there’s a suggestion that he killed his parents, who were so much in love that he felt excluded.
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