It was never going to be an easy choice but, after careful counting and
recounting, the most romantic scene in cinema – as voted for by Times Online
readers – is the denouement of An Affair to Remember.
There were lots of votes for the most recent adaptation of Pride &
Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. The scene in The Bridges
of Madison County, in which Meryl Streep sits in her car and watches
Clint Eastwood and doesn’t go to him, also broke a number of hearts.
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan getting it together at the top of the Empire State
Building in Sleepless in Seattle was popular. The Captain and
Maria sharing a loving look in The Sound of Music attracted
votes, as did Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard, drenched and with Cat, in Breakfast
at Tiffany’s.
The range of films nominated was astonishing – from the final scene of Casablanca
to Truly, Madly Deeply to Pulp Fiction and The
Terminator. The climactic scene in Brokeback Mountain,
in which Ennis holds the overlapping shirts belonging to him and Jack, was
hailed by many, as was Ralph Fiennes carrying Kristin Scott Thomas to her
final resting cave in The English Patient.
The pottery-wheel scene in Ghost, Debra Winger up where she
belongs with Richard Gere in the closing moments of An Officer and a
Gentleman, and a host of moments from Love Actually
also had you weeping. “First, when Emma Thompson discovers that the present
from her husband she thought was for her has been given to someone else,”
wrote Cindy Creedon, from Bridport. “She summons up all her dignity to
masquerade her way through Christmas. Secondly, when Andrew Lincoln reveals
his love for Keira Knightley through flash cards.”
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, starring Ethan
Hawke and Julie Delpy as time-starved lovers, and the great, soupy spectacle
of Titanic – with Leo and Kate losing out against the iceberg
– were popular choices. Amélie, Love Story,
Evita, Out of Sight, The Thomas Crown
Affair, Jerry Maguire, Scarlett and Rhett:
for every tragic death in strong arms, there was a musical, or shared glance
between two people who you would never have put together. The overall
message? Long live romance. And pass the tissues.
An Affair To Remember,
Leo McCarey, 1957
What could be more tear-jerking than the final scene, where we watch
desperately as a crippled Deborah Kerr cannot get up to greet Cary Grant,
too proud to tell him that she fell under a car trying to get to him that
rainy night on the top of the Empire State Building? We watch in
heart-wrenching despair as Kerr sits with a blanket over her legs on
Christmas Eve, and the two engage in a heated discussion over why she did
not show up for their much anticipated appointment years before.
It takes us right into the final moment before, in a dramatic revelation, her
secret is revealed, and the only thing he can do is kneel beside her, clasp
her hand, and exclaim: “Oh darling! If it had to happen to one of us, why
did it have to be you?” It gets my friends and me every single time.
Catherine Hamilton, Warrington
The Bridges of Madison County ,
Clint Eastwood, 1995
That amazing moment when Meryl Streep is sitting in the car with her husband
at traffic lights and the Clint Eastwood character is in his car in front.
The lights change but Clint doesn’t move. The rain is lashing down and Meryl
realises he is giving her the chance to leave her husband and come with him.
You see her begin to squeeze the door handle and then her husband beeps his
horn and the moment is broken. Tears run down Meryl’s face as she watches
Clint drive away forever. I cry every time I see that!
Laura Steward, Buckfast, Devon
The Princess Bride,
Rob Reiner, 1987
The Princess Bride has romance riddled right through it and especially when
the young Westley responds to his love Buttercup’s requests, when he simply
says: “As you wish.” No conditions, just “as you wish”!
Providing a kiss like no other before or since, its tongue in cheek delivery
ensures a tongue delivered well within the cheek!
Martin, Falkirk, Stirlingshire
Wild at Heart,
David Lynch, 1990
The last scene is the most romantic. Sailor (Nicolas Cage) has been sent to
prison. Lula (Laura Dern) is left alone to give birth to and raise their
son. On his release years later, Lula collects Sailor. They are strangers.
The frustration of the wasted years is unbearable. Sailor jumps from the car
and runs. He encounters a gang of thugs who beat him senseless. The Good
Fairy appears and says “Don’t turn your back on love, Sailor!” He screams
“Lula!” and runs to find her. He lifts her up and sings Love Me Tender to
her, a song he once told her he would sing only to his wife.
Elizabeth Roberts, Chelmsford, Essex
Heat ,
Michael Mann, 1995
After McCauley (Robert De Niro) has killed Waingro in his hotel room and is
about to leave with his lover Eady (Amy Brenneman) who is waiting in a car
outside the hotel. Hanna (Al Pacino) assumes she’s waiting for McCauley.
McCauley is about to approach Eady in the car but sees Hanna running towards
her. He stops, hesitates, then makes his decision, knowing he has to leave
her behind. The look on Eady’s face says everything.
John Marcucci, Toronto
Jerry Maguire,
Cameron Crowe , 1996
It has to be the ending, when Tom Cruise comes full circle, needing completion
and love from Renée Zellweger, not caring who’s around except her, and they
finally bond properly for the first time in the film. A simple heartfelt “I
love you” is all it takes to cut through anything, even the most jaded
viewer’s heart. Wonderful!
Niall McGlade, Exeter
Titanic ,
James Cameron, 1997
Not the scenes with the romantic leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, but
the five-second shot of the elderly couple lying in their bed, holding each
other as they await their fate. Not wanting to be separated, the couple
choose death together instead. No greater display of love have I seen in a
movie.
Emma Clarke, Coventry
Pride & Prejudice ,
Joe Wright, 2005
The most romantic scene is when Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) is walking across
the field in the early morning and comes upon Elizabeth (Keira Knightley)
and states: “You have bewitched me body and soul”, and his voice catches as
he says, “I love, I love, I love you, and I never wish to be parted from you
from this day forward.” It is such a satisfying moment that the viewer has
been waiting for throughout the movie. I watch this movie and scene over and
over.
Kathy, Wolcott, Connecticut
The Sound of Music ,
Robert Wise, 1965
The Captain and Maria dance together. It's completely innocent, but gradually
each becomes aware that it’s much more than a mere dance. There is the same
delicious atmosphere of growing tension and anticipation as when any two
people are on the brink of a relationship. The build-up is so subtle and
delicate and yet undeniably sexually charged . . . it’s pure romance!
Mairi Alston, High Wycombe, Bucks
Breakfast at Tiffany’s ,
Blake Edwards, 1961
George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Rain-soaked, sad, and facing an uncertain future, Holly Golightly is far
from the perfect heroine with a far from perfect life, but at least at that
moment she has someone who loves her whom she loves back.
Zoe K, Birmingham
Casablanca ,
Michael Curtiz, 1942
The most romantic screen moment has got to be the farewell scene from
Casablanca. Two great stars, Bergman and Bogart, a wonderful script and
sparse but effective directing from Curtiz. It should win on several counts,
not least because it’s that rare thing, a romantic movie that even the most
hardened chauvinist can sit through. By the end of the story you care about
these two lovers. And, let’s face it, “We’ll always have Paris” is one of
the simplest but most effective lines in movie history. Colin
Munro, Reigate, Surrey
Cinema Paradiso ,
Giuseppe Tornatore, 1989
After 30 years’ absence Salvatore returns to his home town. He has become
successful but has never married and his melanchony and nostalgia for his
lost girlfriend hang in the air.
Quite by chance he finds where she is living, now married to an old
school-friend of his. He phones her from a bar opposite her house and is
able to see her silhouette as she answers the phone and asks who is calling.
He almost loses his nerve but swallows hard and whispers: “Salvatore. Do you
remember?”
Alan Granville, Llandrillo, North Wales
Lost in Translation ,
Sofia Coppola, 2003
When Scarlett Johansson walks back to Bill Murray after they’d already said
goodbye, and she whispers something in his ear that we can’t hear. It’s a
fleeting moment. But a moment that can change a life. I’m still dying to
find out what she said, while at the same time we all know what she said.
Johanneke Kramer, Haarlem, Holland
The English Patient ,
Anthony Minghella, 1996
The scene when Ralph Fiennes returns to a dead Kristin Scott Thomas in the
painted caves, holding her journal, after a harrowing journey trying to
return to save her life. The total mental and physical torture endured
offering no shred of comfort as he arrived far too late. Multiple boxes of
tissues required . . .
Wendy Price-Wheatley, Ilkeston, Derbyshire
