LITTLE IS KNOWN about Saint Valentine. He may have been a Roman priest or the bishop of Terni. He may have performed secret weddings and a miracle on a blind girl before he was martyred. What is certain, however, is that Valentine lends his name to one of the most divisive events in the calendar. Valentine’s Day, a celebration of love, often gives rise to feelings of animosity. Every year netizens criticise it as a festival of overwrought sentimentality and needless consumption. But if you are the sort of person who secretly enjoys seeing men and women on the street clutching bouquets for their beloveds, then here are six films that will woo you.
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001)Helen Fielding says she “nicked” the plot of “Pride and Prejudice” for her own tale—she figured that Jane Austen’s novel had been “very well market-researched for a number of centuries”—but retold it in an enjoyably modern way. The heroine’s misadventures are frequently cringeworthy but usually hilarious; Bridget has become a patron saint of sorts to women who are ungainly, undomestic and liable to make poor choices. Hugh Grant is memorable as the rakish Daniel Cleaver, but it is Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) who eventually earns Bridget’s love.
“Brokeback Mountain” (2005)Ang Lee won the Academy Award for Best Director for this love story (pictured), which is at once grand and intimate. Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis (Heath Ledger) meet on a job herding sheep in Wyoming in the summer of 1963. Homophobia makes it impossible for them to be together openly, so for the next 20 years they sporadically steal away from their wives and children for precious weekends in the wilds. As Jack laments: “There ain’t never enough time.”
“Casablanca” (1942)During the second world war Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is going about his business as the avowedly neutral owner of a nightclub in Casablanca. One night a patron hands him two letters of transit—which would allow the holders to travel unimpeded through Nazi-occupied countries—and is promptly arrested and dies in custody. At the same time, Rick’s former lover, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), and her husband, Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a resistance leader, arrive, hoping to flee to America. This is a stylish, suspenseful film that explores the conflict between self-interest and duty.
“Past Lives” (2023)Na Young and Hae Sung, classmates at school in Seoul, lose contact when Na Young moves to Canada with her family and changes her name to Nora Moon. Years later they reconnect via social media and return to the easy intimacy of their youth. Hae Sung eventually goes to New York to visit Nora (who by then is married). Like “La La Land”, this is a film about what might have been, but it is more powerful for its ruminative restraint. (Pictured above.)“A Star Is Born” (2018)A chance visit to a bar one night brings Jack (Bradley Cooper), a country-music star, into the orbit of Ally (Lady Gaga), an aspiring singer-songwriter. Her success, and their love for each other, proceed in harmony for a time. But Jack starts to sink deeper into alcoholism, to the detriment of his career and hers. There have been four film versions of this story, but the acting and musical performances in this iteration are particularly good. It is a moving portrait of a relationship blighted by addiction and a reminder that love does not always conquer all.
“When Harry Met Sally…” (1989)Nora Ephron, who died in 2012, excelled at writing about food, womanhood and love. This film combines all those elements. (Even if you have never seen it, you will know the scene in Katz’s Deli, or have had your own version of the debate about whether men and women can be friends.) The dynamic between the wry, sarcastic Harry (Billy Crystal) and the sincere, highly strung Sally (Meg Ryan) is delightful to watch, as their friendship slowly transmutes into something more.■