Though love truly is complicated, the adage still sounds like a cliché. Given the difficulty of speaking about love, it is no surprise that love in movies so often comes across as platitudinal. Too many romance movies are just formulaic in their depictions of love. It’s no wonder the subject begins to seem as elementary as children’s valentines.
Since the first kiss appeared on film, in 1896, in William Heise’s “The Kiss,” movie makers have attempted to capture love by showing mostly what is actually taking place before the viewer’s eyes. But it’s not so simple to portray the connection between people.
After sitting through a long series of ordeals leading up to the inevitable apogee that includes the words “I love you,” the viewer may be too fatigued to be convinced that this is love. A declarative kiss that’s too short may not be sufficient to persuade an audience that this couple really is lastingly (or temporarily but sincerely) in love. Too long and it runs the risk of turning into something insincere, even comical.
Successfully rendering authentic feelings of adoration or passion occurring inside a fictitious person requires an inspired coordination of writing, directing, acting, and editing.
Successfully rendering authentic feelings of adoration or passion occurring inside a fictitious person requires an inspired coordination of writing, directing, acting, and editing. In other words, the stars must align.
Mainstream love stories often rely heavily on the formula that requires one character to pursue another. As in a fairytale, the odds against the man or woman doing the wooing are impossible, making success utterly implausible. But nevertheless, there is success because “love conquers all.” Screenplay writers are so dependent on this formula that all these movies are the same — only the characters have different names, genders, or skin tones and live in different places. This of course is very convenient for production companies.
If a film is to be effective it must have a unique story line, one that is not formulaic. Some films do achieve this. The iconic “Gone with the Wind” is an example of what many consider a successful story. The historical background of the Civil War intensifies the desperation of the characters. In “When Harry Met Sally,” interviews of married couples gives the film a seal of authenticity. Likewise in “Amelie,” the idiosyncrasy of the main character, her fanciful notions of life and love, imbue the film with a kind of truth.
These and other films like them seem to get that love can exist outside the borders imposed on it.
Two recent films, “Fallen Leaves” (2023) and “Past Lives” (2023), have successfully broken out of the formula. Though the two films are very different, they both masterfully break the mold of typical romance movies.
Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki hones in on what it means to be isolated even during the moments when affection grabs hold and won’t let go.
Loneliness may be a common theme in love stories, but “Fallen Leaves” explores the theme of loneliness from a different angle — one that is refreshing to see in a romance movie. Instead of the overused premise of mistaken intentions or social prohibitions, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki hones in on what it means to be isolated even during the moments when affection grabs hold and won’t let go. In a bleak, industrialized Helsinki, the two protagonists nonchalantly invite each other to share in their own personal detachment.
“Past Lives” by Korean-Canadian Celine Song, does have an engaging premise, but it’s more concerned about portraying realistic life events. That two young people are separated and meet up again nearly 20 years later after one is married might tempt us to ask the will they or won’t they question. But Song sidesteps all that to explore notions of love as just one of the many components driving people to make real life decisions in the unending tension between past and future.
In both movies, the outside world serves us a reminder that most people are intent on conforming to expectations. The protagonists, however, remain aware that life should be more than that — and that love definitely is.
