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"
Cousins (1988)
6.3/10
Director: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini, Sean Young, William Petersen
The American version of the 1975 French film "Cousin, Cousine" that proved to be a big hit in the U.S. Ted Danson and Isabella Rossellini play nice pe... Read more
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
7.6/10
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz, Keanu Reeves, Mil...
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, the hottest love affair of 1782 is notable for its sense of style and decor, and strong performances from Glenn Cl... Read more
Holiday (1938)
7.8/10
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan
Based on Philip Barry's Broadway play, 'Holiday' is stylishly directed by Oscar-winner George Cukor. This classic film stars Katharine Hepburn and Car... Read more
Jack and Sarah (1995)
Director: Tim Sullivan
Starring: Richard E Grant, Samantha Mathis, Judi Dench
A recently widowed London attorney (Richard E Grant) impulsively hires an American waitress (Samantha Mathis) as nanny to his infant daughter. This le... Read more
Message in a Bottle (1999)
6.2/10
Director: Luis Mandoki
Starring: Illeana Douglas, John Savage, Kevin Costner, Paul Newman, Robbie Coltrane, Robin...
Moving romantic drama, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook"), about a newspaper researcher who finds a bottle with a passionate lette... Read more
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
7.7/10
Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth
This quintessential Howard Hawks masterpiece examines the lives and loves of the pilots of a small commercial airline in Latin America. Exemplary acti... Read more
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
7.1/10
Director: John Madden
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Ben Affleck
This witty and spellbinding account of the Bard's early days stars Joseph Fiennes as the young playwright, struggling with a work he's planning to cal... Read more
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
6.8/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott
The screen version of Paul Bowles' celebrated 1949 novel about a New York couple who embark on an unusual journey through post World War II North Afri... Read more
Shirley Valentine (1989)
7.2/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Alison Steadman
A gem of a film about a witty housewife, bored with the hum-drum routine of suburban life, who jumps at the chance to rediscover herself when she join... Read more
Stealing Beauty (1996)
6.6/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Liv Tyler, Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack, Jean Marais
19 year old Lucy (Liv Tyler) spends a summer in Tuscany after her mother commits suicide. She stays with her mother's friends and has her picture pai... Read more