Romance
"Alice's Festival Of Romance"
Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight, young (and older) love, unrequited love, obsessive love, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden 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 two people finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience life "happily ever after" - implied by a reunion and final kiss.
Here "Alice's Festival of Romance" has been assembled below as an aphabetical list. Should more precise scrolling be required, one should go to the specific genre, ie "Classic Romance", "Comedy Romance" , "Drama Romance" or even "Queer Cinema"
Right: Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid star in Todd Haynes'
"Far From Heaven"
The Lady Eve (1941)
8/10
Director: Preston Sturges
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, Martha O'Driscol...
A conniving father and daughter meet up with the heir to a brewery fortune - a wealthy but naive snake enthusiast - and attempt to bamboozle him at a... Read more
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
6.7/10
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Frances McDormand, Amanda Peet, Jon...
Buoyant romantic comedy from Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want") finds playboy music exec Jack Nicholson dating much younger auctioneer Amanda Peet. Duri... Read more
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
7.3/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, John McGiver
The winning combination of Billy Wilder and writer I.A.L Diamond ('Some Like It Hot', 'The Apartment') and acting greats Audrey Hepburn and Gary Coope... Read more
The Shape of Water (Blu-Ray) (2017)
7.4/10
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: David Hewlett, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Mich...
Elisa is a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes fore... Read more
Blue Valentine (2010)
7.4/10
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling
This stark and realistic examination of the dissolution of a marriage features heartbreaking performances from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as a... Read more
Jane Eyre (1995)
7.4/10
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anna Paquin
Franco Zeffirelli delivers with this adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's novel. Jane, tortured while at boarding school, finds happiness as a Governess -... Read more
27 Dresses (2007)
6.1/10
Director: Anne Fletcher
Starring: Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Katherine Heigl, James Marsden
Katherine Heigl is Jane, gearing up for her 28th turn as a bridesmaid and harbouring a hapless crush on her boss (Edward Burns). Unfortunately her sis... Read more
Hitch (2005)
6.6/10
Director: Andy Tennant
Starring: Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Michael Rapaport, Adam Arki...
Meet Hitch (Will Smith), New York City's greatest matchmaker. Love is his job and he'll get you the girl of your dreams in just three easy dates, guar... Read more
Casablanca ( Blu-ray ) (1942)
8.5/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter...
As time goes by, no film equals the popularity of this indisputable classic. In quintessential roles, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are former lo... Read more
Raising Victor Vargas (2002)
7.1/10
Director: Peter Sollett
Starring: Victor Rasuk, Judy Marte, Melonie Diaz, Altagracia Guzman
Victor doesn't have much, but that's not stopping him from trying to go out with Judy, the prettiest girl on the block. All he's got is hope and a one... Read more