Love, in all its Strangeness

Strange Days, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Some Kind of Wonderful

Romantic movies are a genre that encyclopedias could be written about, so I won’t even try to go into them extensively, more so because if there is a genre where subjectivity is dominant it’s this one. But who can resist a good romantic film on Valentine’s Day? So I’m going to write about some of my favorites; just some, for I confess that I am a sucker for romances. And I won’t talk about the heartbreakers, even though there are many great romance films of this type, all the way from George Cuckor’s Camille (Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor) or Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca (Bergman and Bogart),  to the more recent Blue Valentine, by Derek Cianfrance or Away From Her by Sarah Polley. So many dimensions of heartbreak! Such beautiful movies!

 I’m going to talk about the happy ones (love can be happy).

Among this type of romantic films, my preference is for those romances where there is a strong and longstanding relationship between the protagonists (so no “love at first sight” ones).  In the romance films I prefer, it’s usually the case that there is a strong bond between the two main characters, but there is also romantic love and passion from one of them towards the other, but this passion is not corresponded; at least not for a while. The movie will then take us through the slow process in which the protagonist who is loved comes to the realization of his love or falls romantically in love with his friend.  Love flourishes, passion blooms and all is good.

There are quite a number of films of this type, and they usually have other things going on, so they’re never dull. Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days is a futuristic, science fiction action movie with this romantic undertone; Angela Basset adoring Ralph Fiennes through danger and addiction until he realizes his passion for her (and if I were to vote for a passionate kiss on film, the one between these two would be at the top of the list).  

On the other end, totally realistic and very dramatic, is the love that Antonio has for Luciana in Ettore Scola’s beautiful film about love in all its dimensions: C’eravamo Tanto Amati  (We All Loved Each Other so Much). In this great Italian film, it takes Luciana almost a lifetime to realize her love for Antonio, through the awe inspiring acting by Nino Manfredi and Stefania Sandrelli.

On a lighter tone, there is the teen love movie Some Kind of Wonderful by the wonderful  himself John Hughes, a master at understanding teens and their relationships, very specially this one where Mary Stuart Masterson is the best friend and the prom chauffeur to Eric Stolz, though she finally gets her due (and the diamond earrings!).  As for romantic comedies of this sort, there is Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally, probably Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s best acting to date, which is also about the ins and outs, ups and downs of long standing friendships, where love finally emerges.

But I’m going to end this post with  Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , for in all its creative fiction, this movie so very clearly shows love in all its strangeness; its beauty, its heartbreak, its waning and even (for a while there) vanishing, but ultimately, its persistence. Now that’s love.