I am writing this while listening to a book on Buddhism by the way, so it is from a detached mindset that sees in a personal way romance as a thing to be studied, not for partaking in.
At the top is the first 2 in Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy,
Before Sunrise
and
Before Sunset
Shattered my heart and glued it back together in a very reasonable 80 minutes.
Before Midnight shows the 2 leads having problems and it's therefore more like a Bergman film arguing and ill feelings, I've heard that when you get older you'll embrace the 3rd film, as it is how life unravels. And I can congratulate it on those merits, art representing life.
But those first 2 are so full of the wonder of connection, that is what romance is, connection and devotion, of sharing a life with the only one that fits. Lots of us here may have experienced something like that, and then the other showed their all too human aspect, and it all fell apart, then the 3rd movie would ring more true, but for me who's romance experience is limited Sunrise and Sunset show the pinnacle of what it's supposed to be like.
The Apartment of Billy Wilder is sublime 60s Hollywood romance with a bittersweetness throughout Jack Lemmon lends out his apartment to his work buddies so they can carry out unseemly affairs, but there's a gal at his work he's a little flustered around with played adorably by Shirley MacLaine. Straining spaghetti with a tennis racket is in this too.
L'Atalante of Jean Vigo is a classic tale of newlyweds taking a little boat out for a honeymoon, and after some trials their bond is strengthened.
Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love and that follow up 2046 are luscious colorful fever dreams from the coolest director named here.
@MrSmartyPants I haven't watched it in years but I've had sitting in my Amazon cart the criterion collection edition for the trilogy....just waiting for a price drop.
