Gone With The Wind (1939)
Based on the Pulitzer
Prize winning novel by Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
is a devastating love triangle involving Scarlett and Rhett (Clark
Gable, Vivien Leigh), who are simply made for each other, and Ashley,
who Scarlett is pursuing in futility. And as much as you want them to
be together, time plays the villain as Scarlett realises too late how
much she loves Rhett. After all the heartbreaks Rhett goes through,
when Scarlett turns to him and expresses her love for him, she finds
out he has already moved on and doesn't care about her. In, perhaps,
one of the best climax sequences, when Scarlett confesses her love,
Rhett responds with what is by far the coldest response one has ever
heard on screen, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Casablanca (1942)
Rick and Ilas (Humprey
Bogart and Ingrid Bergman) had a brief affair in Paris a few years
ago, but were separated due to the World War II. Years later, their
destinies cross paths again as Ilas walks into Rick's bar in
Casablanca, with her husband. "Of all the gin joints, in all
the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." defines
the heartache that Rick feels when he sees Ilas once again. It is a
heartbreaking story lined with some great songs like 'Time Goes
By'. And just when you begin to think they might have a second
chance, just as you are expecting Rick to get on the plane with Ilas,
he doesn't. Rick has to let Ilas go, yet again, for he sees a better
life for her if he is not a part of it.
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Roberto and Francesca
spend four days with each other but the love they have will last
forever. However, she is married and unwilling to leave her husband
and children, even though she would want nothing else than to be with
him. The film is a graceful showcase of how love can catch you off
guard and make you do things that you wouldn’t normally do.
However, no matter how strong the love between the two, Francesca
just doesn’t have it in her to choose Roberto over her children.
The scene in the rain where she has to make the final choice can
render hopeful romantics inconsolable.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Jack and Ennis, portrayed
with great finesse by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are in a
relationship that is forbidden by the world. However, their love
lasts many years. They both get married and have children but their
love doesn't have to suffer. However, the fact that they can never
truly be together as the society thinks of their love as wrong, is
saddening. They live on, with only their love for each other and when
Jack dies, Ennis visits his parents house in an overwhelming scene
where he sniffs Jack's shirt, takes it with him and hangs it next to
the picture of Brokeback Mountain --- a classic embodiment of a
dialogue earlier in the film, "I wish I knew how to quit
you."
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Leaving aside the
complexity of a man who is aging backwards, The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button has a love story at its heart and a really tragic
one at that. Benjamin (Brad Pitt) and Daisy (Kate Blanchett) have
known each other all their lives, but unfortunately, when they met,
she was only a little girl and he was an old man. Since then, their
fates take an individual course and their destinies intertwine with
one another, but never truly meet. An out of the world tale of how
two people who were meant to be together all their lives, end up
spending only a brief period with each other, when they are
approximately of the same age.
Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on February 15, 2013
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