The list of films about love is quite extensive. Over the history of the cinema, the directors have created more than one hundred paintings, in the plot of which there is a romantic story. But there are not so many melodramas that viewers have loved for several decades. The article provides a list of films about love that have become world classics. It also names the paintings that came out in recent years.
The best American films
In 1989, the American Film Institute made a list of the top 100 films. All the pictures included in this list are created in Hollywood. Among them are not only melodramas, but also detective stories, thrillers and paintings in other genres.
âThe best film about loveâ is a subjective concept. But if you rely on the opinion of experts, then âGone With the Windâ, âForrest Gumpâ are the most successful foreign films. These pictures are described below. It is worth saying that the list compiled by the Institute of Motion Picture Arts has few melodramas. For the best films about love, which have gained popularity around the world, critics are somehow cold.
Waterloo Bridge
Love amid a global catastrophe is a win-win story for a book or film. Waterloo Bridge was released in 1949. Roles were played by Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh, who later played in one of the best films about love - Gone With the Wind. The Waterloo Bridge melodrama was nominated for an Oscar in two categories.
During the First World War, a young ballet dancer met on the Waterloo bridge with a young military man. Myra and Roy fall in love with each other. But he goes to the front. The girl is expelled from the ballet school, and soon she finds the name of her lover in the lists of the dead. Myra becomes a prostitute: she cannot find work, and her own reputation after Roy's death does not bother her. But Myraâs lover is alive. A newspaper post is a mistake.
They meet again at the station. Accidentally. It would seem that Myra should be happy: you can forget the events of recent years and start life from a new sheet. But the heroine of one of the best love films created in the 20th century does not succeed. The finale of the picture is tragic. In 1949, Roy, a middle-aged, gray-haired officer, before leaving for France, went to Waterloo Bridge to recall the girl who died a quarter of a century ago. The picture was released a week after the start of the occupation of Paris.
"Gone With the Wind"
A lot has been shot about the love of foreign films, but you can remember no more than ten similar screen versions of Margaret Mitchell's novel. For the main role in the film "Waterloo Bridge" Vivien Leigh received no awards. For the image of the frivolous Scarlett was awarded the Oscar (in all, the picture collected eight film awards).
The film was released in 1939. Vivien Leigh got into the picture by accident. The main role claimed by many Hollywood stars. However, the director preferred the American actresses to an Englishwoman. And I was not mistaken. Perhaps the tandem of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable is the most successful in the entire history of the genre.
"Love story"
âWhat can be said about the girl who died at twenty-five?â - With these words begins the novel by Eric Seagal, filmed in 1970.
The rating of films about love was made by the same Institute of Motion Picture Arts. The list called "One Hundred Most Passionate American Films" is called, and this film was included in it. Viewers who have not read Seagalâs book only at the end of the picture begin to realize that this is a very sad story.
Oliver Barrett IV - a representative of a noble and wealthy family - gets acquainted with the âgray mouseâ in the library. Her name is Jennifer. She is a talented pianist. Oliver could not even think that for her sake he would soon break off relations with his family, give up his inheritance. They got married, but lived together for only a year. Jennifer discovered leukemia.
This is one of the best films about love. The picture has collected six prestigious awards. The Oscar was awarded for the best music written by Francis Lei. The melody from The Love Story is familiar to everyone today. Even those who have not watched the movie with Eli McGraw and Ryan O`Neill.
"Forrest Gump"
This picture is not included in the ratings of films about love. But âForrest Gumpâ is one of the best paintings of the 20th century, and the love line in the plot of this tragicomedy takes not the last place.
The girl who once shouted to him âRun, Forrest, runâ, he loved all his life. Since childhood. Growing up, he ended up in Vietnam, and then became one of the richest and most famous people in the USA. But Forrest Gump is not a success story. And this is not melodrama. A film about love with a deep philosophical meaning - this is the name of the picture, released in 1970 and which has become a classic of world cinema. Forrest Gump has collected six Oscars. The main roles were played by Tom Hanks and Robin Wright.
"Nine and a half weeks"
Relations between the characters do not last long: the term of the passionate romance between the millionaire and the modest employee of the art gallery is included in the name of the film. Separate scenes from the 1986 melodrama became classics. The picture is filled with metaphors and symbols. The millionaire manipulating his lover was played by Mickey Rourke. The main female role was played by Kim Basinger.
"Ghost"
Love does not die even after death - such is the idea at the heart of yet another Oscar-winning film, which tells about the main human feeling. Sam never told Molly that he loved her. All that he could say in response to her confession: âMutually.â
Sam dies, but does not rise to heaven: on earth he has unfinished business. With the help of a fortune teller, he contacts his girlfriend. Only after death, Sam confesses Molly love. The roles were played by Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. The film was released in 1990.
"At the crossroads"
In 1970, director Claude Saute directed the melodrama Trivia of Life, starring Romy Schneider. After 24 years, a remake was released - âAt the Crossroadsâ. This is a story about a love triangle. Vincent respects his wife and adores his daughter. But the wife - Sally - is not able to arouse passion in him. His life changed after meeting with the red-haired Olivia - tender, passionate. Olivia does not want to share her beloved man with another woman. Vincent does not want to injure his daughter. He is at a crossroads.
Once at a crossroads, Vincentâs car collides with a truck. He is dying. The main character was played by Richard Gere. Female roles were performed by Lolita Davidovich and Sharon Stone. The game was not appreciated by the latest critics, as evidenced by the Golden Raspberry anti-award. But the audience liked the film.
"Titanic"
The tragic fate of the liner, which sank in 1912, did not leave anyone indifferent in the late nineties: the drama with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the lead roles was released. The love relationship between a poor artist and a girl from a wealthy family lasts only a few days, but fundamentally changes the fate of the latter. It took more money to shoot the film than it used to be for the construction of the Titanic. The creators of the picture were awarded the Oscars and Golden Globes.
"Wuthering Heights"
Emily Bronte's famous novel was filmed four times. For the first time - in 1939. This picture was included in the list of one hundred best films according to the Institute of Motion Picture Arts. The premiere of the second film adaptation took place in 1992. The role of Heathcliff was played by Ralph Fiennes - an actor who in the following years appeared before the audience in the guise of a Nazi sadist in the film Schindler's List. The main character was played by Julien Binoche. The screen versions of 2009 and 2011 are less known.
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
The melodrama with elements of science fiction, released in 2004, was awarded the Oscar for best screenplay. The plot is really unusual. The heroes involuntarily travel through time, but the main line here, as in other films described above, is romantic. The main roles were played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.
"Reader"
Another movie with Kate Winslet in the title role. "Reader" is based on the novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. The main character is a woman who worked during the war as a warden in a concentration camp.
Sixteen year old Michael falls in love with Hannah. She is twenty years older than him. A strange romance begins between them: they indulge in passion, and after a young man reads aloud the works of classics. And only after eight years, Michael learns about the past of Hannah, as well as that she cannot read. The main male role (the role of Michael in adulthood) was played by Ralph Fiennes.
"The Great Gatsby"
The film was shot according to the book of the same name by Fitzgerald, which tells of extraordinary love. In foreign films today it is rarely possible to meet a touching romantic story. But Leonardo DiCaprio managed to brilliantly play the romance and the dreamer in the film âThe Great Gatsbyâ, and hardly any of his colleagues would have been able to do it better. He created on the screen the image of a man who earned his whole life, but not for the love of money, but for the love of the girl - Daisy, whose role was played by Carey Mulligan. The film premiered in 2013.
Soviet films about love
Eldar Ryazanov was not only a master of comedy. But he shot several films that can be safely attributed to the best domestic melodramas. First of all, it is worth recalling the film adaptation of Ostrovskyâs âBrideâ. The picture aroused indignation among film critics, who most of all did not like the free interpretation of the classic work. But the audience the film "Cruel Romance" caused extremely positive emotions.
The comedies âOffice Romanceâ and âThe Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bathâ are dedicated to the most wonderful feeling. The success of Ryazanovâs films is not only in good scripts, but also in wonderful poems, which the director was very fond of using in his films. For example, The Ballad of a Smoked Carriage, which the actors read in one of the last scenes of The Irony of Fate. The words "Do not part with your loved ones" have become, as they would say now, the slogan of the film.
âValentine and Valentineâ, âYou never dreamed ofâ - films with a touching plot. Both the first and second are talking about the love of the Soviet Romeo and Juliet.
Russian one-part film about love
In the late nineties, the âSiberian Barberâ was released. The love story of an adventurer and a junker is sad. But if the hero of Menshikov did not hit hard labor, the picture would not have gained such wide popularity in the post-Soviet space.
One-part Russian films about love should also include the pictures âHeroâ, âLove with restrictionsâ and âLocustâ. We will tell you more about the latter: this film with thriller elements caused controversial reviews. Is she about love? Or maybe a painful passion?
Money does not rule the world. But if feelings too long obscure the thirst for profit and the desire to find a convenient place in society, they turn into a terrible destructive force. This is what the Locust movie, released in 2013, is about.
Artem is a resident of a small seaside town. Lera is a native Muscovite, the daughter of a major businessman. These people belong to different worlds. But once their fates are bound by unbridled, all-consuming passion.
In a provincial town, Leraâs parents have a âmodestâ mansion. Artyom appears in this house once as a worker. In the afternoon, the young man works as a builder, in the evening he writes poetry. After meeting with Lera, his life completely turns upside down. An affair ensues, which should end at the end of the summer season. But when autumn comes, Artem goes to Moscow - to his beloved. The heroes of the film "Locust" go to their happiness, destroying everything in its path. They are not capable of either compassion or pity. The main roles were played by Peter Fedorov and Paulina Andreeva.
Russian directors often use landscapes of provincial villages for their paintings. Films about love on rural subjects in recent years are very popular. The plots are the same, but are popular with the audience. The heroine arrives in Moscow, where she meets her fate or, on the contrary, leaves the big city for the village. Films about love against the backdrop of rural landscapes: âA Bullseye from an Apple Treeâ, âBad Daughterâ, âBlack Bloodâ, âVillage Romanceâ, âFidelityâ.
It is worth mentioning the popular Indian melodrama. Films about the love of directors in India enjoyed success in our country 20-30 years ago. It cannot be said that these paintings are distinguished by unexpected plot twists and brilliant acting. But fans of Indian films about love today are many. Famous paintings of recent years: âRevenge of Maheshâ, âSweetie on the Barelâ, âMale conversationâ, âLove and romanceâ.