I think it's time for another list. This is a list of the top 5 films I'll watch if I'm losing faith in romance. They are sort of my reaffirmation I suppose.
5. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
What you mean you've never watched a Bollywood film? I promise you it is a great source of untapped romantic escapism! I've never really had a problem with reading subtitles, I know some people say it feels a bit too much like reading a book but then I enjoy reading books so maybe that's why I don't mind it. The story is about a man whose wife dies giving birth to his daughter. The woman leaves a letter for her daughter which she reads on her 8th birthday telling the story about how her parents met but how in doing so they broke the heart of her father's best friend. The daughter goes on a mission to find the best friend and hopefully bring love back into her father's life but when she finds her she's already engaged to marry someone else.
This film makes me laugh, and cry every time without fail. The songs in it are great as well. Please don't dismiss it because it's not in English, once you get passed the culture barrier you'll love it!
4. The Notebook
I remember hearing about this film for ages before I finally watched it, and I kicked myself that I didn't watch it sooner because it's wonderful.
It's set in an old people's home where an old man reads out of a journal to a woman with alzhiemer's disease. He tells her the story of a couple of teenagers, a girl from a rich family and a boy from a poor one who fall in love but are separated by her parents. It is not until she is engaged to someone else that they re-meet and find themselves as much in love as ever.
My favourite scene in this book is out on the lake with all the swans and geese everywhere it is so ethereally beautiful I love it. The most romantic thing? That even when he thinks he will never see her again Noah still remodels the plantation house exactly how Ally said she wanted it.
3. The BBC Adaptation of Pride & Prejudice
Hopeless romantics everywhere sigh at just the thought of this TV mini-series (am I cheating including this, after all it isn't a film?) The casting is wonderful, the details are perfect and it stays wonderfully close to the original book by Jane Austen.
Now I know that most people's favourite scene is Colin Firth appearing in wet shirt freshly out of the lake, but whilst I wont deny the merits of that scene it's not my favourite. My firm favourite has to be at Pemberley when Elizabeth is turning the pages for Georgiana, the looks between Lizzie and Darcy are positively electric, C'est l'amour :-)
I felt almost sorry for the recent film attempt, it wasn't bad in fact it was rather good (though Keira Knightley wasn't the best casting), but the BBC version is simply unbeatable.
2. Little Women
So I know this is mainly a story about family, about sisterhood and the importance of strong family ties to help you through tough moments in your life, but God does it pack a punch on the romance side too!
Consider the three sisters who live to adulthood and the way they find their husbands. Meg who marries the poor tutor John Brooke; he helps her father through his war injury and they become engaged at 17. Jo is heartbroken when she has to refuse an offer of marriage from her best friend and she runs to New York where she meets Professor Bhaer. He teaches her about opera, about writing from her heart and finally helps her get published. And Amy, the girl determined to marry for money who turns down a much richer man who she turns down for her childhood friend as she saves him from his own self-destruction.
I feel all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it.
1. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
For me this one is a no brainer. I've watched this film after break-ups, heart breaks, unrequited loves and it always makes me feel better and gives me hope :-)
I love that it's funny and heartwarming at the same time. The storyline itself is nothing special but the way that its pulled off is amazing. The soundtrack is great, the script is beautiful and the cast are fantastic.
I would really like to write more about this film, I feel that being my top movie I should have more to say. But I don't I can only say watch it and enjoy it because it's lovely!
List complete! ;-)