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Romantic Drama

A type of drama that centers its narrative action on a romantic conflict. By nature, the prototypical romantic drama tends to be a solemn and straightforward character study of a couple struggling to unite or stay united, frequently ending with tragic or downbeat circumstances. In most romantic dramas, obstacles blocking this coupling usually fall into one of several categories. As with many classic literary counterparts, social obstacles such as class, illness, cultural, economic or racial differences have always been cinema's favorite romantic crimp. Lovers helplessly caught in these circumstances are viewed as trapped by fate and must find a way to overcome great odds. Examples include Jungle Fever, The Piano and The English Patient. Romantic threats in the form of another lover is also a tried-and-true formula, with the "romantic triangle" plot acting as the prime example. In these scenarios, one or both parts of the couple either find or are threatened by philandering or another love interest. Casablanca, Jules and Jim and The Age of Innocence are specific instances of this dilemma. Finally, psychological restraints usually offer more complex, complicated and modern variations on this movie type, wherein internal mental conflicts within the protagonists (rather than outside barriers) keep them from falling in love. Repression, confusion, past turmoil, and/or abuse are all factors in these types of examinations and can be seen in such models as Two English Girls, Un Coeur en Hiver and sex, lies, and videotape.

Major Works
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Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1996 Breaking the Waves   Lars von Trier
  9 Stars 1994 Trois Couleurs: Rouge   Krzysztof Kieslowski
  9 Stars 1994 Chungking Express   Wong Kar-Wai
  9 Stars 1993 The Piano   Jane Campion
  9 Stars 1937 A Star is Born   William Wellman
  9 Stars 1968 Romeo and Juliet   Franco Zeffirelli
  9 Stars 1948 The Red Shoes   Michael Powell
  9 Stars 1969 My Night at Maud's   Eric Rohmer
  9 Stars 1954 La Strada   Federico Fellini
  9 Stars 1962 Jules and Jim   François Truffaut
  9 Stars 1953 From Here to Eternity   Fred Zinnemann
  9 Stars 1990 Cyrano De Bergerac   Jean-Paul Rappeneau
  9 Stars 1945 The Children of Paradise   Marcel Carné
  9 Stars 1942 Casablanca   Michael Curtiz
  9 Stars 1946 Brief Encounter   David Lean
  8 Stars 1996 Lone Star   John Sayles
  8 Stars 1995 Leaving Las Vegas   Mike Figgis
  8 Stars 1993 Trois Couleurs: Bleu   Krzysztof Kieslowski
  8 Stars 1991 La Belle Noiseuse   Jacques Rivette
  8 Stars 1939 Wuthering Heights   William Wyler
  8 Stars 1985 Witness   Peter Weir
  8 Stars 1973 The Way We Were   Sydney Pollack
  8 Stars 1992 Un Coeur en Hiver   Claude Sautet
  8 Stars 1986 A Room With a View   James Ivory
  8 Stars 1986 Mona Lisa   Neil Jordan
  8 Stars 1955 Marty   Delbert Mann
  8 Stars 1948 A Letter from an Unknown Woman   Max Ophüls
  8 Stars 1990 Ju Dou   Zhang Yimou
  8 Stars 1959 Hiroshima Mon Amour   Alain Resnais
  8 Stars 1949 The Heiress   William Wyler
  8 Stars 1969 Double Suicide   Masahiro Shinoda
  8 Stars 1978 Days of Heaven   Terrence Malick
  8 Stars 1978 Coming Home   Hal Ashby
  8 Stars 1936 Camille   George Cukor
  8 Stars 1980 Atlantic City   Louis Malle
  7 Stars 2000 In The Mood For Love   Wong Kar-Wai
  7 Stars 1999 The End of the Affair   Neil Jordan
  7 Stars 1999 An Affair of Love   Frederic Fonteyne
    7 Stars 1999 Sam Dung   Sylvia Chang
  7 Stars 1999 The Girl On The Bridge   Patrice Leconte
  7 Stars 1998 Living Out Loud   Richard LaGravenese
  7 Stars 1998 My Name Is Joe   Ken Loach
  7 Stars 1997 Good Will Hunting   Gus Van Sant
  7 Stars 1997 Shitsurakuen   Yoshimitsu Morita
  7 Stars 1997 The Wings of the Dove   Iain Softley
  7 Stars 1997 Mrs. Brown   John Madden
  7 Stars 1997 Happy Together   Wong Kar-Wai
    7 Stars 1997 2/Duo   Nobuhiro Suwa
  7 Stars 1997 Sunday   Jonathan Nossiter
  7 Stars 1996 The Portrait of a Lady   Jane Campion
  7 Stars 1995 Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud   Claude Sautet
  7 Stars 1995 Sense and Sensibility   Ang Lee
    7 Stars 1995 Love Letter   Shunji Iwai
  7 Stars 1995 The Bridges of Madison County   Clint Eastwood
    7 Stars 1994 L'Eau Froide   Olivier Assayas
  7 Stars 1994 Wild Reeds   André Téchiné
    7 Stars 1992 Savage Nights   Cyril Collard
  7 Stars 1993 The Age of Innocence   Martin Scorsese
    7 Stars 1967 Scattered Clouds   Mikio Naruse
  7 Stars 1944 I'll Be Seeing You   George Cukor
  7 Stars 1955 All That Heaven Allows   Douglas Sirk
  7 Stars 1991 The Man in the Moon   Robert Mulligan
  7 Stars 1982 The Year of Living Dangerously   Peter Weir
    7 Stars 1914 The Wishing Ring   Maurice Tourneur
  7 Stars 1980 Urban Cowboy   James Bridges
  7 Stars 1986 Summer   Eric Rohmer
  7 Stars 1975 The Story of Adele H.   François Truffaut
  7 Stars 1982 Sophie's Choice   Alan J. Pakula
  7 Stars 1986 Sid and Nancy   Alex Cox
  7 Stars 1942 Random Harvest   Mervyn LeRoy
  7 Stars 1933 Queen Christina   Rouben Mamoulian
  7 Stars 1982 An Officer and a Gentleman   Taylor Hackford
    7 Stars 1968 Nanami, The Inferno of First Love   Susumu Hani
  7 Stars 1951 Sommaren med Monika   Ingmar Bergman
  7 Stars 1961 The Misfits   John Huston
  7 Stars 1966 A Man and a Woman   Claude Lelouch
  7 Stars 1993 Like Water for Chocolate   Alfonso Arau
    7 Stars 1946 La Symphonie Pastorale   Jean Delannoy
  7 Stars 1944 Jane Eyre   Robert Stevenson
  7 Stars 1939 Intermezzo   Gregory Ratoff
  7 Stars 1980 Heartland   Richard Pearce
  7 Stars 1981 The French Lieutenant's Woman   Karel Reisz
  7 Stars 1967 Far From the Madding Crowd   John Schlesinger
  7 Stars 1989 The Fabulous Baker Boys   Steve Kloves
  7 Stars 1989 Enemies: A Love Story   Paul Mazursky
  7 Stars 1991 The Double Life of Veronique   Krzysztof Kieslowski
  7 Stars 1991 Dogfight   Nancy Savoca
  7 Stars 1986 Children of a Lesser God   Randa Haines
  7 Stars 1988 Camille Claudel   Bruno Nuytten
  7 Stars 1986 Betty Blue   Jean-Jacques Beineix
  7 Stars 1990 All the Vermeers in New York   Jon Jost
  7 Stars 1988 The Accidental Tourist   Lawrence Kasdan
  6 Stars 2000 Come Undone   Sebastien Lifshitz
  6 Stars 2000 The Princess and the Warrior   Tom Tykwer
  6 Stars 2000 Signs & Wonders   Jonathan Nossiter
  6 Stars 2000 Waking the Dead   Keith Gordon
    6 Stars 1999 M/Other   Nobuhiro Suwa
  6 Stars 1999 Guinevere   Audrey Wells
  6 Stars 1998 Late August, Early September   Olivier Assayas
  6 Stars 1998 High Art   Lisa Cholodenko
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