In the second installment of our series of articles about movies, we are featuring romantic settings. What makes a setting romantic? Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams have proven time and time again they can make any setting or any relationship seem romantic. Why are some movies romantic? Why do others fall short?
To say romance is in the eye of the beholder is too easy and cliché. Real estate professionals love to say, Location, Location, Location, but when it comes to romance, the location might not be enough. Good writing or chemistry between actors can also be romantic, but is only one ingredient necessary? Movies can have a romantic setting, a romantic plot, and characters played by incredible actors and still not be romantic. Also, the book you read may be romantic, but sometimes the movie version is not and alternately the movie can be romantic when the book isn’t. How does that happen? There are movies about war, famine, and pestilence with incredibly romantic scenes, but is one scene enough to make it a romantic film? These are the questions I’ll be exploring with fourteen films in honor of February 14th – the most romantic day of the year. FYI – I’m trying to feature films that aren’t in this month’s quiz.
The English Patient is based on the book of the same title by the Sri Lankan born Canadian author Michael Ondaatje. The book is 320 pages; however, the film is 162 minutes which is almost three hours. The movie won 9 of its 12 Academy Award nominations at the 69th Academy Awards ceremony in 1997. The story takes place in an abandoned villa in Northern Italy near the end of World War II. Hana, a French-Canadian nurse is caring for a severely burned, dying, patient with amnesia, known only as the English patient because of his English accent. They are soon joined by two other men, Kip and David, who are also suffering from the physical and mental traumas of the war. Though he can’t remember who he is, the English patient remembers the great love of his life, a married woman named Katherine. He reveals the obsessive and destructive nature of that love which was borne of so much tenderness. The movie also explores the healing power of love as Hana and Kip begin to fall in love. His story is told in flashbacks with brilliant performances by Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas, Willam Dafoe, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, and Jurgen Prochnow. Action in the film takes place in the desert and at the villa. Is the desert romantic? It was in Maria Muldaur’s song, “Midnight at the Oasis,” but that’s totally unrelated to this movie. The beauty of this film is Hana’s ability to see beyond her patient’s injuries to honor the man who lived and loved so passionately. Critics praised the film while admitting its length detracted from its powerful story.
Ghost – This 1990 films stars Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. You had me at Swayze. He somehow made Roadhouse seem like a romantic flick. Swayze could bring the heat. The storyline is a bit sappy – a murdered man comes back as a ghost to check on and protect the love of his life, (played by Demi Moore). Swayze and Moore shared an undeniable chemistry that transforms their apartment into a romantic setting. Despite all the pottery scene memes and skits throughout the years, Ghost still tugs at your heart strings.
The Preacher’s Wife is a remake of the 1947 film, The Bishop’s Wife. It was directed by Penny Marshall and stars Whitney Houston, Denzel Washington, and Courtney B. Vance. Vance plays the Rev. Henry Biggs, a pastor of a struggling church in a poverty-stricken area of New York. The demands of his job have caused him to neglect his wife, Julia (Houston) and their son Jeremiah. When Henry prays for guidance, help arrives in the form of an angel named Dudley (Washington) who captivates Julia as well as Jeremiah and Henry. The setting is far from romantic, but the circumstances and the chemistry between Houston and Vance and Houston and Washington is strong and the rekindling of Henry and Julia’s romance is touching.
Dr. Zhivago is another long film – 193 minutes. This film won 5 of its 10 Academy Award nominations at the 38th Academy Awards ceremony in 1966. It’s based on the 592-page book of the same name by the Russian author Boris Pasternak. Because the book was banned for many years in the Soviet Union, the movie was filmed primarily in Spain. It stars Omar Sharif as Dr. Zhivago and Julie Christie as Lara, his married love interest. Their story is interwoven between the years before the first World War, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. The scenes between Sharif and Christie are powerful. The setting is romantic and “Lara’s Theme” by composer Maurice Jarre adds a tragic and beautifully haunting quality to the film.
Bridget Jones’ Diary is a departure from my first three selections. It’s based on the novel by the same name by Helen Fielding. Bridget played by Renee Zellweger is a lovable screw up who’s trying to find love. She thinks her boss, Daniel (Hugh Grant) an unrepentant womanizer is the one. While Bridget is falling all over herself to get noticed by Daniel, she meets Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) a stuffy politician who is shy, reserved and bumbling in that charming British way Firth does best. It’s a romance you root for and its set in London and the surrounding counties. London can be a very romantic city, especially at night,
The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore is my favorite Adam Sandler film. Sandler plays a wedding singer who shares what is supposed to be one of the most romantic days of anyone’s life with his clients. When he falls in love with a client and professes his love on an airplane to Julia (Barrymore), its funny, sweet, and romantic.
50 First Dates reunites Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasures. Sandler plays Henry, a womanizing marine veterinarian, who falls for an art teacher, Lucy (Barrymore). When Henry learns Lucy has anterograde amnesia and is incapable of remembering him for more than one day, Henry sets out to win her love every day for the rest of their lives. The beach setting is romantic, but Henry’s love and dedication to Lucy is a real heart grab.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1990 film starring the incomparable Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano who is in love with Roxanne (Anne Brochet) but too embarrassed to declare his love because of his big nose. When the handsome, Christian shows an interest in Roxanne, Cyrano professes his love for her by writing love letters as Christian hoping his words will win her heart. Instead, Roxanne and Christian fall in love. France is a romantic setting and even with a ridiculous prosthetic nose, Depardieu has a certain magnetism and a voice that will make you swoon. It’s a tragic love story that will have you grabbing the big box of tissues.
Green Card is another Gerard Depardieu movie that’s also a guilty pleasure of mine. Depardieu plays George, a Frenchman who is about to be deported. He arranges a marriage of convenience with Bronte (Andie Mac Dowell) who in return gets the apartment of her dreams. George and Bronte marry and go their separate ways until the INS decides to do a spot check. They move in together with disastrous consequences. There’s a wonderful chemistry between them as they evolve from polar-opposite strangers to two people in love.
(500) Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom and Zooey Deschanel as Summer. My son thought Tom was whiny, but there’s a part of me that feels for him when the woman he adores refuses to commit to a relationship only to fall in love and marry someone else. Tom makes so many romantic gestures to show Summer how much he loves her. New York is a romantic city. It’s a bittersweet love story, but the message is clear – its possible to love again no matter how badly your heart has been broken.
10 Things I Hate About You is another film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He plays the high school nice guy with a crush on Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) a popular girl who’s not allowed to date until her older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. Andrew Keegan plays Joey the popular guy Bianca wants to date. Joey hires the new transfer student, Patrick (Heath Ledger) to get Kat to go out with him. The movie is a modern twist on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” but in this case Kat does some taming of her own. The two sisters end up with the right guys and the chemistry between Stiles and Ledger and Gordon-Levitt and Oleynik is perfect. The movie is set in the Seattle area, but the setting doesn’t really affect the romance.
How Stella Got Her Groove Back was adapted from author Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel of the same name. Angela Bassett stars as Stella, a successful 40-year- old stockbroker and busy single mother trying to juggle career, motherhood, and dating. When she takes a vacation to Jamaica, Stella meets Winston (Taye Diggs) who is 20 years her junior. Stella and Winston set out have some harmless fun but fall in love. Bassett is beautiful and sexy and a perfect match for Diggs. The islands are a romantic setting and Stella lives the fantasy mist of us can only dream about.
Arrival is a science fiction blockbuster that received 8 Academy Award nominations (winning only one) at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony in 2017. Amy Adams stars as a linguist hired by the Army to interpret symbols and sounds coming from an alien spacecraft. She is paired with a physicist (Jeremy Renner) and they must establish contact with the aliens before a world super-power takes military action. Adams and Renner are dynamic, and the urgency of their situation is romantic in an incredibly unromantic setting. Communicating with the aliens enables her to know events from the future. These events will have a tragic effect on her relationship with Renner, but she makes the decision not to forego loving him and having a child with him. It’s sweet, romantic, and tragic. Grab the big box of tissues.
The Wedding Date stars Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Adams, Jack Davenport, and Jeremy Sheffield. It is also one of my guilty pleasures. As the wedding of her sister Amy (Adams) in London approaches, Kat (Messing) learns the best man is her ex-fiancé, Jeffrey (Sheffield) who dumped her two years ago. Kat hires an escort, Nick (Mulroney) to be her date and pretend boyfriend. What could be more romantic than a lavish wedding in London? Kat is about to find out when Nick turns on the charm. There are three romantic couples in this film, Kat and Nick, Amy, and her fiancé Ed (Davenport) and the girls’ parents, Bunny and Victor. Peter Egan plays their stepdad, Victor whose love for Bunny (Holland Taylor) and his daughters is sweet.