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Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so let’s use that as an opportunity to talk romance. No, not what you’re getting your partner to play your part in this charade we call late capitalism. I’m talking about the most romantic scenes in cinema history. And there are many to choose from. For me, some of my favorites are the NYE finale of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, the star-crossed lovers seeing each other for the first time in ROMEO + JULIET, the final “double or nothing” scene from LOVE & BASKETBALL, the dance scene from WITNESS, “Here’s looking at you, kid” from CASABLANCA, Robert Redford washing Meryl Streep’s hair in OUT OF AFRICA, Cary Grant trying to rescue Katherine Hepburn from reputational ruin in THE PHILADEPHIA STORY, the “I’m just a girl” sequence from NOTTING HILL and…well, I could go on and on. I have many. Too many. But if I have to pick just one, it would be the pottery wheel scene from GHOST. It just doesn’t get better than that, as far as I’m concerned.
So, tell me: what do you think the most romantic scene in cinematic history is (and why)?
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The end of Before Sunset. The looks the characters give each other when it's clear he's going to miss his flight on purpose to stay with her. The guitar scene right before it also unforgettable.
It's so quiet and so tender. I love that the small kisses are a slow build up - sexual tension, for sure, but also into intimacy. And it's Amélie showing what she likes and guiding her partner, and him following hear lead. And then the big kiss is withheld from us, and of course can anything be sexier (scarier, etc.) than when it's all left to the imagination?
I'm a sucker for the ending of JERRY MAGUIRE, but also loved every scene between Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz in LOVE ACTUALLY. Wasn't there a "I'm just a girl" sequence in NOTTING HILL?
Aww love this question! :) For me, it's the ending of ROMAN HOLIDAY - when (spoiler alert) princess Audrey Hepburn faces the press conference and line-up of people to shake hands with... which includes, of course, journalist Gregory Peck - who she's just secretly spent the most magical time with, during which they've fallen madly in love. And of course she can never divulge this, and he's such a gent that he doesn't... and the moment between them, in public, both knowing what they know and feeling what they feel, yet unable to show it... is just so incredibly poignant, so unbelievably romantic. (And it's then followed by a wonderful very very final scene, in which we watch Gregory Peck simply, slowly walk out of the grand building, alone, as the crowd has fallen away. Magic.)
I'm definitely with you on Witness, Cole, but like you, there are too many to just whittle down to one.
Right now, the ones that strike me the most are, the "Time after Time" Coca Cola sign dance sequence in STRICTLY BALLROOM, just because it so beautifully captures the manifestation of their growing emotional connection through their shared environment.
I really love the penny arcade dance between River Phoenix and Lili Taylor in DOGFIGHT (guess I'm a sucker for intimate dance sequences), but maybe even more overwhelming is their post-coital goodbye while Bob Dylan sings Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.
It's hard to beat Kathrine Hepburn daring her family to try and stop her from going to meet Cary Grant at the end of HOLIDAY, but Fran telling CC Baxter to shut-up and deal her a gin hand after he confesses his feelings to her at the end of THE APARTMENT comes close.
But maybe most of all, it's when little Mary Hatch whispers how much she loves him into George Bailey's bad ear at the beginning of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It's so beautifully impulsive and raw. Maybe a young person's love is the most pure and undiluted by broken life experiences.
You know a scene that doesn't get enough props? In GROUNDHOG DAY, after Bill Murray breaks down the lives and yearnings of everyone in the diner, Andie MacDowell challenges his knowledge of her, and he replies with a hushed, sincere cataloguing of the things he has come to love about her the most in his years of perpetual February 2nds, ending with "...and when you stand in the snow, you look like an angel." That movie in general is underestimated for its romanticism, and that scene is its zenith.
As I’m reading the examples in your question, I’m immediately thinking “the pottery scene from Ghost”. Other thoughts: the scene where Shug Avery and Celie kiss in The Color Purple [1985]; Richard Gere climbing the fire escape in Pretty Woman; and so many scenes from Somewhere in Time.
Delightful Heath Ledger as Sir Ulrich dancing to medievalised David Bowie with his lady in A Knight's Tale (and totally making it up as he goes along!)
The end of Before Sunset. The looks the characters give each other when it's clear he's going to miss his flight on purpose to stay with her. The guitar scene right before it also unforgettable.
There are quite a few in these post + comments I haven't seen - and some I have so long ago I've forgotten everything. Solid list!
I'll add one of the most romantic moments for me, which is also my favourite on screen kiss: the kiss in Amélie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQutB3mYc84
It's so quiet and so tender. I love that the small kisses are a slow build up - sexual tension, for sure, but also into intimacy. And it's Amélie showing what she likes and guiding her partner, and him following hear lead. And then the big kiss is withheld from us, and of course can anything be sexier (scarier, etc.) than when it's all left to the imagination?
I'm a sucker for the ending of JERRY MAGUIRE, but also loved every scene between Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz in LOVE ACTUALLY. Wasn't there a "I'm just a girl" sequence in NOTTING HILL?
Aww love this question! :) For me, it's the ending of ROMAN HOLIDAY - when (spoiler alert) princess Audrey Hepburn faces the press conference and line-up of people to shake hands with... which includes, of course, journalist Gregory Peck - who she's just secretly spent the most magical time with, during which they've fallen madly in love. And of course she can never divulge this, and he's such a gent that he doesn't... and the moment between them, in public, both knowing what they know and feeling what they feel, yet unable to show it... is just so incredibly poignant, so unbelievably romantic. (And it's then followed by a wonderful very very final scene, in which we watch Gregory Peck simply, slowly walk out of the grand building, alone, as the crowd has fallen away. Magic.)
Purple Rain The Beautiful Ones sequence. Feels like it says it all about the peaks and valleys of Love.
The "Room with a View" scene where George (Julian Sands) kisses Lucy (Helena Bonham-Carter) in a poppy field
I'm definitely with you on Witness, Cole, but like you, there are too many to just whittle down to one.
Right now, the ones that strike me the most are, the "Time after Time" Coca Cola sign dance sequence in STRICTLY BALLROOM, just because it so beautifully captures the manifestation of their growing emotional connection through their shared environment.
I really love the penny arcade dance between River Phoenix and Lili Taylor in DOGFIGHT (guess I'm a sucker for intimate dance sequences), but maybe even more overwhelming is their post-coital goodbye while Bob Dylan sings Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.
It's hard to beat Kathrine Hepburn daring her family to try and stop her from going to meet Cary Grant at the end of HOLIDAY, but Fran telling CC Baxter to shut-up and deal her a gin hand after he confesses his feelings to her at the end of THE APARTMENT comes close.
But maybe most of all, it's when little Mary Hatch whispers how much she loves him into George Bailey's bad ear at the beginning of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It's so beautifully impulsive and raw. Maybe a young person's love is the most pure and undiluted by broken life experiences.
You know a scene that doesn't get enough props? In GROUNDHOG DAY, after Bill Murray breaks down the lives and yearnings of everyone in the diner, Andie MacDowell challenges his knowledge of her, and he replies with a hushed, sincere cataloguing of the things he has come to love about her the most in his years of perpetual February 2nds, ending with "...and when you stand in the snow, you look like an angel." That movie in general is underestimated for its romanticism, and that scene is its zenith.
As I’m reading the examples in your question, I’m immediately thinking “the pottery scene from Ghost”. Other thoughts: the scene where Shug Avery and Celie kiss in The Color Purple [1985]; Richard Gere climbing the fire escape in Pretty Woman; and so many scenes from Somewhere in Time.
The Notebook.. all of it. I’d have to re watch it for a particular scene but it’s such a tearjerker for which I’m not in the mood right now 🥹😂
Delightful Heath Ledger as Sir Ulrich dancing to medievalised David Bowie with his lady in A Knight's Tale (and totally making it up as he goes along!)