Love is a frequent theme in movies, but do we actually see true love on the screen?
As Judi Dench's Queen Elizabeth I says in the 1998 Best Picture Oscar-winner Shakespeare in Love:
Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.
A wager is placed on this, and Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) takes that wager. Ultimately, the result is Romeo & Juliet.
So, how often do we see true, sacrificial love in movies? With St. Valentine's Day coming soon, we asked a few of our contributors to pick films they thought exemplified the best in romantic love (and tell you where you can see them)
The ultimate love story is An Affair to Remember. This is the second of three incarnations of this story. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr star in this film of love, sacrifice, and hope.
The “affair” in the title does not refer to a physical one. It is an affair of the heart that binds two people together. They must find a way to rework their lives separately in order to be together as a couple, however, an accident keeps them apart.
The ending often has viewers in tears. It is indeed, one of the greatest love stories in movie history.
The 1991 animated movie Beauty and the Beast is one of the best depictions of love and sacrifice.
Belle is captive in the Beast’s castle. If she can fall in love with him, his spell will be broken and he will return to his human form. But when he sees her heartache about not being with her father, even though it means he must stay as a beast, he gives sets her free.
His heart aches at letting her go not because of the curse, but because he loves her.
And in the end, when he is mortally wounded, Belle proclaims her feelings for him. The spell is broken because he learned to love and was loved in return.
The live-action film is a good adaptation of the story, but nothing beats the original animated movie.
In my life, the best relationships have begun with a great conversation. Even better if, as in Before Sunrise, that conversation lasts for hours…and hours.
The idea is far-fetched, but so fun to watch: new acquaintances spontaneously decide to get off their train in a foreign city and wander overnight, talking.
It almost mirrors concepts like the “36 Questions to Fall in Love” experiment, but better, because it’s fully organic. Genuine personal connection with another person is rare, and I love seeing this budding couple discover all the delightful surprises in each other.
In this reality-based version of the fairy tale, Danielle is Cinderalla, setting an example of shining personal character. But our charming Prince Henry has the best growth arc.
We meet him as a mildly useless crown prince without any desire to rule, before Danielle beautifully persuades him to use his power for good (a rare theme).
But their joyful union hinges on a lynchpin of honesty, when they must confront each other to find the real person they fell in love with. Also, its unusual setting in Renaissance France sets up the best “fairy godmother” of all: Leonardo da Vinci.
Kinuyo Tanaka directed this period film set during 17th-Century feudal Japan. The main character is a samurai who converted to Catholicism. His wife, however, did not.
The ruling dynasty begins persecuting Catholics. The wife appeals to the craftiness of her husband’s soldiering profession in an appeal for his life … can’t he maneuver away from his pursuers? The husband responds that he is first a Christian, and it’s his vocation not to shirk suffering and death but to enter it.
Romantic love between husband and wife abounds in this film, but is contextualized within agape (sacrificial) love.
The recent FX/Hulu series Shōgun occurs at the same time and place and contains similar themes.
French Catholic director Eric Rohmer helmed this beautiful little film set on the Atlantic Coast in Brittany, France.
Budding musician Gaspard (Melvi Poupaud) discerns between starting a job as a music teacher in the fall semester or hoping for his first professional gig to launch him on a musical career.
That’s not the only thing he’s discerning as three young women seem romantically interested in him.
Rohmer made a career telling Catholic moral tales. In this film, chastity is respected in each relationship. And similar to a seminarian finding his priestly vocation, Gaspard breaks the hearts of all three women as he leaves the seaside resort and sets out on his artistic calling.
If you enjoy this film, it’s part of Rohmer's Four Seasons Quartet.
It's more widely known as a Christmas movie (indeed, it airs on broadcast TV every year about that time), but the core of Frank Capra's classic film is a story of sacrificial love.
While George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) dreams of adventure in far-off lands, all childhood friend Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) wants is to live in her little hometown and be his wife.
She gets her wish, but has to endure George's neverending, subterreanean anger that he's become trapped in Bedford Falls.
When George's guardian angel lets him see how life would have been without him, George discovers that all who love him -- including Mary -- have led diminished lives.
But Mary never loses faith in George and, in the end, her steadfast, selfless devotion saves the day.
Underneath the stunning animation and catchy tunes of this surprise animated megahit are some deep themes, including a tale of redemption.
Jinu lives with the guilt of having made a deal with the demon king and abandoning his starving family for comfort and fame -- the price for which was losing his soul and becoming a demon himself.
After 400 years of this, he makes another deal with the demon king: remove the painful memories in exchange for Jinu and his demon boy-band companions, the Saja Boys, destroying pop singers/demon hunters Huntrix (and scooping up thousands of human souls in the process).
But an unexpected (and very chaste) relationship with Huntrix lead singer Rumi slowly reawakens Jinu's humanity. In the end, he sacrifices himself to save her and a stadium full of fans.
I've watched reaction videos on YouTube in which young male viewers call on Jinu to step up and save the woman he loves -- which gives me hope for the future.
Image: Canva
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