Ten Most Romantic Movies of All Times

Romance may mean different things to different people. To some it may be about couples overcoming all obstacles to end up with each other in a happily-ever-after while for others it is the ecstasy and the pain of a love that is never meant to be. But in almost all interpretations of romance in art, there are certain common ideas like passion, beauty, companionship, hope and a love that gives significance to everything temporal and mundane. So here are ten movies which embody many of these notions and because of which they are commonly accepted as the most romantic of all times.

Casablanca

Set in the political hotbed of Africa of the 1940s, Humphrey Bogart stars in the movie as the hotel owner Rick Blaine who has a secret. One day he sees his former lover walk into his bar and stir up emotions as well as a course of action which leads each of them to their own destiny. The film became famous for one of the most memorable lines in movie history, “of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”
 

Gone with the Wind

This 1941epic movie based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Mitchell tells the tale of two firebrand souls, Scarlett O’ Hara and Rhett Butler who are as attracted to each other as much as they lock horns to satisfy individual desires. Weaving in and out through the tumultuous days of the American Civil War, the movie is also memorable for other kinds of love like Melanie’s patient caring and Bella’s silent sacrifice.
 

Roman Holiday

This 1953 classic about innocence, love and freedom starred Audrey Hepburn as a continental princess and Gregory Peck as an American journalist. When the princess escapes the constraints of her royal life, she finds more than freedom in the company of the journalist but fails to recognize it as love until the very end when she has to resume the responsibilities of her regal position.


 

An Affair to Remember

Starring two of the most famous stars of the age, this 1957 movie brought together Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant as the star-crossed lovers who first meet on an ocean liner and fall in love amid a volley of witty and humorous banter.  At the end of the journey, they vow to meet at the Empire State Building in New York after six months if they still feel the same way about each other but are thwarted by a cruel stroke of fate. In the end however true love triumphs but not before it has tested each of them thoroughly.
 

Dirty Dancing

This 1987 film figures on most best romantic movies list for its in-your-face celebration of dance and love as the young want to experience it. On a summer vacation, the shy and sheltered daughter of a family, Frances attends a camp where she ends up falling in love with the dance instructor, Johnny. Much against her father’s wishes, Frances decides to come out in the open about both her passions and thus take charge of her life.
 

When Harry Met Sally

This movie became as famous for its fake orgasm scene as for the chemistry between its sparring couple played by Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal who refuse to admit till the very end that they are the perfect partner for each other. The film had a unique narrative premise where long-in-love couples are recounting their own love stories and at the close, the audience realizes that Harry and Sally are among them too.
 

Pretty Woman

This 1990 blockbuster catapulted Julia Roberts into the hearts of men around the world with her toothy grin and her incredible performance as the sassy but actually a child-at-heart Vivian. Rich lawyer Edward - played with finesse by Richard Gere - hires Vivian, a prostitute, to keep him company for a week as he moves through high-society events. However complications follow and the two find love only after each has overcome clashing egos and social barriers.
 

Ghost

Another movie from 1990 figures as one of the famous love stories because of two reasons. Firstly since it is based on a plot which has a lover named Sam from the other side of existence – as a ghost – trying to save his beloved. Secondly it includes one of the most passionate scenes in film history where Sam and Molly start making love even as they leave midway their experiments with the pottery wheel with The Righteous Brothers’ ‘Unchained Melody’ playing in the background.
 

Titanic

One of the highest-grossing films of all times, this 1997 romantic movie takes the maiden voyage of ill-fated transatlantic luxury liner as its context. Jack is a poor artist trying to live by his amazing drawings and quick wits while Rose is a passionate young woman being forced to marry against her wishes. Both seem to find in each other’s love the fulfillment of their heart’s desires but Fate has something else in store for them. The film was as much noted for the sets built on epic proportions as much as the original soundtrack, “My heart will go on”, supremely rendered by Canadian diva, Celine Dion.
 

Bicentennial Man

This futuristic movie in a way asks some very basic questions on what it means to love and what makes human beings think that only they have a right to give and receive love. Starring Robin Williams as the robot Andrew who has a sensitive streak and is uncharacteristically receptive to beauty, humor and independence of spirit, the film explores his journey through the intricacies of human society and laws for the next two centuries as he unfailingly battles and sacrifices his immortality simply to be granted the right to love a human.