ROMANCING WITH FILMS: SONYAA's TOP 20 (Part-I)

Be prepared to fall in love all over again in sweet September....and oh no no...it's not Valentine's Day (you surely don't need a month to celebrate love and romance...do you?) and you don't have to look around to find it....you'll find it here in films that have wowed us time and again...and romances that have led us to create a make-believe world of our own that someday that special someone would find his way to our door....anyway now instead of trying to figure out how it'd happen...let's wait for that magical moment to appear or who knows it's already here but we fail to see it! Anyway...Patience, patience....For now,let's go back to some of those wonderful films whose romances and love stories have simply mesmerized us and set our hearts aflutter... so let's get ready to soak ourselves in the rains of romance!!


I have compiled a list of romantic dialogues/situations from 20 films that figure among my  favorites...and you know that choices are always subjective...so please don't be disappointed if the films you like don't make it to my list! Since 20 is a big number it was not possible to include it all in one article...so you'll have to wait a month more before you read the top 10....till then let's begin in the reverse order starting from No. 20 and please don't scroll down...otherwise you'd lose the thrill of reading this article which I took weeks to write as I fondly remembered some of the films I have loved so deeply, passionately and seen over and over again....
I shall elaborate the scenes of a few films and for some films I shall quote the most loveable dialogue/moment of/in the film....

# 20 on my list is the love story of Christian (Ewan Mcgregor), a penniless young poet who comes to Paris only to fall head-over-heels in love with a beautiful courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman) - the star of the underworld nightclub "MOULIN ROUGE". But, the Duke has also set his eyes on her,adding to the triangle which ends in a tragedy...Sigh!A beautiful dialogue from the film that stands out in this musical period drama is -- “Love is a many splendor thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!”

 At # 19  is the story of JERRY MAGUIRE,who has recently quit his job and has the support of just two people on his side -- a client Rod Tidwell,an egomaniacal footballer and Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger),a young single mother who nurses a crush on him and quits her regular job to join him. Her's what she thinks of him when she tells her friend --- “I love him and I don’t care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is.” And the most romantic moment in the film comes when Jerry realizes that the person behind his success was the woman who stood by him through the most difficult moments of his life and she was someone whom he dearly loved, that's when he tells Dorothy -- "You... complete me."

# 18 comes the THE WEDDING DATE (for those who love Hindi films,your reference point is the Akshaye Khanna-Priyanka Chopra starrer Aap Ki Khatir) The Wedding Date is about Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) who hires an uptown male escort Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney) to pose as her new boyfriend only to make her ex-fiancé jealous at her sister's wedding because he happens to be the groom's best man!
Here's a tender moment in the film when Kat begins to have a change of heart when Nick tells her -- "Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close... your... eyes. You're safe. You can relax. I'm not going to kiss you. He's gonna be so sorry he lost you, so stop worrying. Forget the past. Forget the pain. And remember what an incredible woman you are.”

# 17 ah it's LOVE ACTUALLY, it's Christmas time in England and 8 people are falling in and out of love! Some have found their Mr/Ms Right,some with the wrong people, others looking out for an affair and still some just flirting! But as you look carefully...you'll find that 'Love is Actually' happening! Here are some interesting situations in the film and different characters take on LOVE!

Daniel - Liam Neeson

Sam  - Thomas Sangster

Daniel: Tell her that you love her.

Sam   : No way! Anyway, they fly tonight. Daniel: Even better! Sam, you've got nothin'  to lose , and you'll always regret it if you don't! I never told your mom enough. I should have told her everyday because she was perfect  everyday. You've seen the films,kiddo. It ain't over 'til its over.  

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Sam : But you know, the thing about romance is... people only get together right at the   very end. 

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Karen(Emma Thompson): True love lasts a lifetime.  

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Mia(Heike Makatsch)       : I'll just be hanging around the mistletoe, hoping to be kissed.     

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[in Portuguese] Jamie (Colin Firth) : Beautiful Aurelia, I've come here  with a view of asking you to marriage with me. I know I seems  an insane person - because   I  hardly knows you - but sometimes  things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me  in England. 

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[neither Jamie nor Aurelia understands the other's language] Jamie  : [in English] It's my favorite time of day, driving you.  

Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz)   : [in Portuguese] It's the saddest part  of my day,leaving you.

                                                                                      

# 16 comes PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel about five sisters whose family's future happiness and security is dependent on their daughters making good marriages. Their lives turn upside down at the arrival of a proud yet dashing and wealthy Mr. Darcy in their neighborhood who ends up falling in love with one of the Bennet sisters.

Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) is a romantic too...here's how he proposes to Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) ----
"You must know... surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I'd scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April,tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."

# 15 -- Whoooaaa...two in a row!!! Yes,it's Jane Austen's novel again...and this time it's the story of a young congenial lady who finds immense happiness in meddling in other people's affairs and is constantly mismatching couples who are a misfit for one another...guessed it? She's EMMA! But Emma Woodhouse is simply clueless when it comes to understanding her own feelings and her relationship with the gentle, Mr. Knightley! Here are some romantic sequences in the film which culminate in the film when Emma meets Mr. Knightley....though the latter is simply bowled over...but it takes Emma a while to confess her own feelings for him!
Mr. Knightley : I rode through the rain! I'd - I'd ride through worse than that if I could  just   hear your voice telling me that I might, at least, have some chance to win you.  

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 Emma :I do not admire Mr. Knightley as I have so long thought.[pause]I love him. So dearly, so greatly!
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Mr. Knightley : Maybe it is our imperfections which make us so perfect for one another.  

# 14 ...just been wondering for a moment...have you ever seen it happen in Hollywood that a successful actor or for that matter a successful actress falls in  love with a loser or a no-one? It sure does happen in the film NOTTING HILL when an unsuccessful travel bookstore owner, William Thacker (Hugh Grant) falls in love with a top Hollywood actress, Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) from Beverly Hills! From what begins as a casual encounter gradually blossoms into friendship till they actually fall in love as they frequently bump into one another.Misunderstandings arise when William thinks that Anna didn't value him as she does not come out in the open about their relationship and that's when he decides to break-up...but Anna must have her say too...so once again she stops by his book-shop to tell him --"I am just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her"

Now this list gets interesting with two films at # 13...not surprising...we have the same director and the same cast too!! Director Garry Marshall returns with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in PRETTY WOMAN and RUNAWAY BRIDE!

A rich businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) hires the services of Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), a smart hooker only to fall in love with her! But Edward has second thoughts too...before he decides to make Vivian, a part of his life. That's Pretty Woman!

How to make up for a situation if you're late on a date....ask Edward Lewis...Here's how --
Vivian Ward      : You're late.
Edward Lewis  : You're stunning.
Vivian Ward      : You're forgiven.  

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Alright...here's another...
Edward Lewis : I think you are a very bright, very special woman.  

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And finally...
Edward Lewis : So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?  

Vivian Ward    : She rescues him right back

In RUNAWAY BRIDE, as the title aptly suggests, Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) has a commitment-phobia of walking down the aisle...and now after leaving several men high and dry at the altar when people begin to believe that this time she was sure to marry Ike Graham (Richard Gere) she ditches him too...without realizing that somewhere deep down in her heart she was in love with him....so this time in a role reversal Maggie Carpenter gets down on her knees and proposes to Ike and here's how ---

Maggie Carpenter : I love you, Homer Eisenhower Graham. Will you marry me? 

Ike Graham : I... I've got to think about this a little bit.  

Maggie Carpenter : Good. I was hoping you'd say that. Ike Graham : [laughing] You were not! 

Maggie Carpenter: I was, because if you said "yes" right away, then I wouldn't get to say this next part, and I've been practicing.
Maggie Carpenter: Ready?
Ike Graham  : I'm listening.
Maggie Carpenter:I guarantee there'll be tough times. I  guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is going to want get out. But I also guarantee...[starts to cry] that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Because I know in my heart...   you're the only one for me.

Now this list couldn't get any better with Jane Austen's novels scoring  a hat-trick with SENSE AND SENSIBILITY at #12. When Mr.Dashwood passes away lhe leaves behind his second wife and three daughters in distressed circumstances. Their lack of fortune affects their marriageability prospects of both  Elinor (Emma Thompson) and Marianne (Kate Winslet). With time the two fall in love...only to be heart-brokened,when Edward Ferrars's (Hugh Grant) family disapproves of Elinor and Marianne chooses to fall in love with John Willoughby (Greg Wise),who ditches her instead of Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) who loves her unconditionally. But love must find a way for the two sisters...not before heart-breaks,pain and hardships come their way only to discover true love and eternal bliss! Does love come knocking again for the Dashwood sisters....surely it does in the film, Sense and Sensibility!
Here's one scene that forms a part of the film's treatment which was not in the novel...but Ang Lee has so aesthetically included it in the narrative...that nowhere you feel it's out of place...Here's how it unfolds-- When Marianne Dashwood (Kate Winslet) falls in love with John Willoughby,the essence of Shakespeare's sonnet so beautifully encapsulates her feelings for him when she walks by the lush green meadows and recites --  

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
Sometimes romance need not have two people standing opposite each other and conversing about love....sometimes a thought or a poem alone sets in the mood for romance...Agree?

Topping the list of 20 at # 11 is James Cameron's epic love story about a poor guy Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) who met the rich and beautiful Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) on the TITANIC. It may have been a doomed voyage but their romance went to live on forever even when years later an old Rose reminisced her memories on the ship and spoke about the love of her life,Jack Dawson - a man who taught her to live, a man who gave her a reason to live and a man who taught her to love! There are many beautiful moments on the ship...but here's one at the end of the film when a dying Jack tells Rose...  

Jack Dawson : Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me... it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must do me this honor. You must promise me that you'll survive.That you won't give up, no matter what happens,no matter how  hopeless. Promise me now,Rose, and never let go of  that promise.    

Rose Bukater :  I promise. 

Jack Dawson :  Never let go.
Rose Bukater : I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go.
These were the films that made it to the list of 11-20...now you must be eagerly waiting to read the ones that made it to the top 10...and for that you'll have to wait on until next month....till then you could start writing in your guesses at the comments section given below and come back again next month and see for yourself if your predictions were accurate! Also do write in your comments/views/rating on how you found this article and yes do share it with your friends too...surely films and romance like always make a good reading!

Take care and ciao until next month.
Love,
Sonyaa

 (To be concluded....)