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The soul flowering in Life as love is Romance.

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Love that Lasts

"Love is a passion and it seeks for two things, eternity and intensity." (Sri Aurobindo) Yet all too often that passionate feeling arrives without warning out of nowhere and then vanishes just as suddenly without a trace. In The Notebook, an old man spends his idle time in a nursing home reading a love story to an old woman with Alzheimer's disease who has lost her memory and forgotten her family and her life, but listens with rapt attention to the old man's narrative. The story he narrates exemplifies romantic love in its purest and most powerful form, a love born in youth and sustained for decades.

It began at a carnival on Seabrook Island, South Carolina, as an unlikely summer romance between teenagers from very different backgrounds and strata of society. Allie was the only daughter, heiress and pride of a wealthy southern family of distinction, given the finest education and raised with the highest expectations of accomplishment in life. Noah was the son of an intelligent, working class father with aspirations that did not extend beyond raising a happy family on this beautiful island of his birth. Initially Allie was put off by Noah's bold intrusion and pursuit. He was handsome enough, but one look was sufficient to show the differences in their origins and up-bringing. Yet differences can be deceptive. For beneath the striking contrast, they found a deep and joyous commonalty of shared affection. Noah was all too aware of the social distance and obstacles that separated them, but he was sure of himself, the intensity of his love and his capacity to make her happy as no one else could do. He helped free her from the stifling conventionality in which she had been raised and brought out her creativity as a painter. She was thrilled with wonder to discover the poetry of his unpretentious heart. He offered her little, but pledged himself to buy the dilapidated Windsor Plantation on the riverbank and restore it to its former grandeur for her sake.

Knowing their daughter to be head strong and independent, initially her parents tolerated the summer romance with little doubt that it would end when Allie left for college in New York in the fall. But the ardent intensity of her feelings alerted them to a deeper danger. After failing to curtail her emotions, they cut short their vacation and forced her to leave a week early. Noah outwardly resigned himself to the campaign against him, while silently accusing Allie of not openly refusing to leave. Feeling deeply hurt by his accusations and rejected, she decided that Noah must take the initiative to pursue her if he really cared to.

The following year Noah wrote to her every single day, but Allie waited in vain to receive his letters, because her mother confiscated them without her knowledge. Mistaking Noah's silence for indifference, Allie was heart-broken for months but finally decided to move on with her life. Noah went off to WWII, where he lost his closest friend. Allie became a nurse for wounded soldiers, where she met and was attracted to Lon Hammond, a handsome, sophisticated southern lawyer from a wealthy family, precisely the type of man her parents had always wanted her to marry.

After the war, Noah's father presents him with the deeds to the old mansion and together they embark on a labor of love to restore its lost beauty. Seven years have passed. While visiting Charleston, Noah catches a glimpse of Allie walking down the street. He sees her enter a restaurant and kiss Lon affectionately. The passage of time has not dampened his feelings, nor has it disturbed the quiet reserve which prevents him from speaking up for what he wants. He returns to the island alone.

Shortly thereafter, Lon proposes and Allie accepts him to the great joy of her family. The day their engagement is announced in the Charleston papers, Allie notices an article on the very same page with a picture of Noah and Windsor Plantation, relating the story of the restored mansion. Preparing for the wedding, Allie tells Lon she must go away for a few days. She returns to Seabrook and drives out to the magnificently restored mansion where Noah is living by himself. Amazed to see how Noah has remained faithful to his promise, shocked to discover that he had written her 365 letters which she had never received, and deeply moved by the evidence that he had never ceased to love her during all the years of their separation, her long buried feelings of joyous love rose to the surface and overwhelmed her.

Two blissful days later, her mother drove up to the mansion and informed her that Lon has come to Seabrook in pursuit of her. After Allie confronts her with the treachery of concealing Noah's letters, she drives Allie to the sand mines where she points out a middle-aged laborer and describes the passionate love affair that she had with him on a summer holiday in her youth. Then she had chosen convention, conformity and security over love. She had tried to impose the same decision on her daughter. She now withdraws her opposition and returns Allie to the mansion, gives her the 365 letters and leaves her daughter to choose for herself.

For once in his life, Noah breaks his stoical silence. He accuses Allie of giving in to security and social pressure and tries to compel her to choose what he is sure she really wants. Strong willed as ever, she quarrels and drives away to meet Lon. Hours later she returns to Windsor with her suitcases to spend the rest of her life with Noah.

The old woman was deeply moved by the old man's narrative. Suddenly she realized that the story was one she had heard before, it was her own story and the man who read it to her was Noah. For five minutes they enjoyed the intensity of emotional reunion before she lapsed back into self-forgetfulness once again. She herself had written that story down in a notebook when she realized she was losing her memory and had made Noah promise to read it back to her in the hope of reviving her memory. For months Noah had been reading her the story daily. She had forgotten her children and grandchildren and could not recognize them, but the story in the notebook brought back momentarily the most sacred emotions of her life. At first her recovery came every few days, then every few weeks. Now it had been months since she had last remembered. But for those few brief minutes they both relived freshly with the original intensity the love they had felt for each other the first summer they met. In one such moment of lucidity, she asked Noah whether they might die together and the next morning they were discovered lying motionless next to one another in bed.

What kept alive the flame of love between Allie and Noah over more than half a century of quiet living in the same home, raising children, seeing them married and having children of their own? What made their love so very different from so many ordinary or disappointed marriages? Though physically attractive in their youth, beauty and good looks that vanish quickly with age could hardly explain the longevity of their love. She came from wealth and sophisticated society, he from the plain simplicity of the rural South. Nor did they share any intellectual interests or artistic pursuits. She was well-read, highly educated, played the piano and painted pictures. He never went to college, read poetry and crafted furniture. She was vivacious and extroverted, he somewhat quiet and reserved. She had aspirations to see the world, he to live in the world he already knew. What they shared was at once much simpler and more profound than the long list of factors that purportedly determine emotional compatibility.

Allie did certainly love Lon, but the heart is a plant that blossoms just once in a lifetime. After that it may continue to give fruit, but a second blooming can never match the purity and intensity of the initial bloom when the love it is based on is true. Allie's love of Noah was no mere childhood infatuation. Its fragrance arose from deep in their hearts and remained true throughout their lifetime.

The secret of lasting romance is not a matter of chance or luck or the magic of finding the perfect person. It lies rather hidden in the aspirations and values that bring two people together in the first place. Allie made a conscious decision to follow the deeper urges of her heart, rather than the surface attraction of wealth, material security, status, respectability and social success. It is true she did love Lon in her own way, the way we love all our families, all that we are used to, all that represents a comfortable and acceptable way of life. But her love for Noah issued from the depths of her being. She had the strength which her mother lacked to renounce the safe and secure path in favor of an emotional adventure of the soul.

Though often felt but briefly, never to return, true love is not altogether a myth. Eternal romance is not mere fantasy. Attaining that intensity requires a purity of aspiration that is willing to give up everything else combined with a capacity to give oneself in joyous love and ask nothing in return. Rare are the hearts qualified for it. Rarer still those that can sustain and revive it year after year, but love lies always in waiting, ready to return to hearts that remain true to love.

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The Story of Us

The Story of Us This movie depicts a turbulent period in the 15 year marriage of a middle class suburban couple in the process of divorce over irreconcilable differences. While carrying through with their resolution, they revive past memories and rediscover the deeper layer of emotional bonding which brought them together in the first place.

 

Articles on The Story of Us

Ben and Katie’s relationship is an excellent example of Vital Attraction Level 4 in the Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.

After 15 years of marriage their relationship had arrived at a point where the very attributes that originally gave liveliness and joy to the relationship have become a source of friction, tension and frequent quarrels. This is an example of how relationships are marred by Conflict – Level 2 in the Scale of Harmony . See the article and videos.

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Plot Summary

The Story of Us is the very real and humorous examination of Ben and Katie Jordan's marriage. After 15 years, the couple is wrestling with the universal paradox: why are the qualities that made them fall in love in the first place now the very things pulling them apart? Katie Jordan is the designated driver of the marriage. She likes having everything in its place, knowing that there are answers to the little questions and having a sense of closure. Her career as a crossword-puzzle designer fulfills her need to know that the little world on that half page is complete. And this is why Katie fell in love with Ben's imagination, spontaneity and playfulness.

Ben Jordan, a writer, is a true romantic who believes in happy endings. But life demands some attention to details, and Ben doesn't know where the medicines are and he lets his washer-fluid light blink incessantly red. Ben's philosophy, as Katie describes it, is comparable to the children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon. Harold is a little boy who draws the world the way he wants it to be and not the way it actually is. Initially they were attracted to one another because they were so very different. Then they had arrived at a point where the very attributes that originally gave liveliness and joy to the relationship have become a source of friction, tension and frequent quarrels. Emotionally drained from their relationship, the Jordans attempt a trial separation while their children, Josh, 12, and Erin, 10, are away at summer camp. For both Ben and Katie, fighting has lately become the condition rather than the exception, and they believe that their only option is a silent retreat to neutral corners.

While carrying out that decision they discover a deeper layer of emotional attachment which they cherish and are unwilling to give up. They recognize that their differences represent strengths by which they complement and complete one another. They realize that in the course of living their lives they had forgotten that their relationship and their children are more important than anything else. Ultimately familiarity, friendship, trust and love of their children prevail and they decide to remain together.

 

 

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The Story of Us
Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Alan Zweibel & Jessie Nelson
Starring Bruce Willis as Ben Jordan, Michelle Pfeiffer as Katie Jordan                                                                  
Copyright belongs to Castle Rock Entertainment

 

 

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Titanic

Titanic The beauty and intensity of pure romance between a beautiful, 17 year old American socialite and a vagabond artist is dramatically portrayed against the luxurious backdrop of the 'Titanic'’s maiden voyage from England to New York. The story is aesthetically narrated to show how they are drawn together by such powerful bonds of devotion that each is willing to sacrifice his/her own lifefor the sake of the other.

 

Articles on Titanic
Rose and Jack’s relationship is a fine example of the powerful bonds of Devotion - Level 8 in the Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

In April 1912, Rose is returning from Europe with her fiancée Cal Hockley and her mother in company with many of the rich and famous of their day. Her father died leaving them a prestigious name, but no money to support the luxurious lifestyle to which they were accustomed. Therefore, her mother presses her to sacrifice herself for the good of the family, by agreeing to marry Cal, whom she does not love or even like very much. As a token of his commitment, Cal presents her with a fabulous blue diamond pendant. To him, she is another beautiful object to add to his collection. Rose feels suffocated by her mother’s pretentions, her fiancée’s arrogance, the dead conventional formality of high society and the meaningless life being pressed upon her. In rebellion she rushed to the stern of the ship and contemplates suicide. Jack sees her passing by, suspects her intentions, and intervenes just in time to save her life when she slips off the edge of the ship.

Their fortuitous meeting leads quickly to intimate friendship and romance. Jack seems to understand her better than she herself does. Perceiving a remarkable strength in her character that refuses to accept the fate imposed by society, he counsels her not to sell her soul for respect or security, abandoning the freedom she is entitled to inherit. Her whole being expands in joy at his words and responds to his affection with gratitude and passion.

At the peak of their passion, the Titanic hits an iceberg and begins the journey that will soon take it to the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile out of jealousy, Cal has Jack placed under arrest on a false charge of stealing the blue diamond and locked in a cabin on the lower level of the ship. As the ship takes on water and everyone rushes for lifeboats, Rose risks her life to hunt for Jack and frees him from confinement just moments before the lower deck floods. Jack leads her up to the main deck and convinces her to get into one of the few remaining lifeboats, promising to follow, but knowing full well there are no more boats to take him. Reluctantly she gets into the lifeboat and then jumps out again, refusing to leave without him. When the Titanic goes under, Jack manages to place Rose on a floating doorframe, saving her life while he freezes to death in the water. Rose survives, takes on Jack’s last name and starts a new life for herself. Narrating the story when she is passed 100 years old, she relates how their few moments together changes the course of her entire life and how she has spend the last eight decades living up to the promise she made to Jack during his last moments.

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Titanic
Directed by James Cameron
Written by James Cameron
Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson,Kate Winslet as Rose Bukater, Billy Zane as Caledon Hockley
Copyright belongs to Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

 

 

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Definitely Maybe

Definitely Maybe The subtle differences between physical and vital attraction, emotional compatibility and romantic love are beautifully illustrated in this story of a handsome young man's love affairs with three lovely women.

 

Articles on Definitely Maybe
The basis of Will’s relationship with the 3 attractive women is analysed in this article on Love, Romance, Sex & Marriage. See the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

Will Hayes, a thirty-something married dad, has just received his divorce papers when his 10 year old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will's story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the Clinton campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big city politics, and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. Will attempts to narrate the story for his daughter with names changed so Maya has to guess who he finally married.

Will's first love is Emily, lovely co-ed at the University of Wisconsin who he regards as his future wife. He leaves Emily to spend the summer in New York working as a volunteer in Bill Clinton's election campaign, where he meets April, who is making photocopies in the same office. Summer is an old friend of Emily's aspiring to become a political columnist. Will spends the next decade trying to figure out which of the three he really loves.Emily visits New York, and Will proposes in Central Park, but Emily turns him down and confesses she slept with Will's former roommate in Wisconsin. Will is heartbroken. If Emily represents the attractions of a near-perfect wife, Summer was every man's dream of a perfect love affair. Beautiful, intelligent, sexually alluring and aggressive, she took Will's breath away. After a brief period of ecstatic sexual intimacy, he felt hopelessly in love and determined to propose. The very day he planned to give her an engagement ring, Summer published an article exposing the indiscretions of the politician Will was trying to get elected and trashing all hopes for the campaign, for Will's career and for his relationship with Summer. They both realized that Summer was not a woman who needed or could settle down in a permanent relationship. She enjoys freedom too much. Her first priority is her own career. Will walked away furious and deeply disappointed.

He found April extremely attractive but he always felt that intimacy between them would be impossible, because they were so very different and opposite in many respects. They seemed to constantly challenge each other's beliefs and values. After Summer refused him when he proposed, Will got drunk and found the courage to confess to April that he loved her. Clearly moved and deeply in love with Will, April refused to take him on the rebound and told him to get his life together. Sometime later Will meets Emily again, marries and lives with her until Maya is 10 years old. Although they are both good, pleasant people and like each other, the elusive magic of romantic love did not outlast the initial period of infatuation. They never had a serious problem, but something essential was missing. What they had might have been more than enough for a normally successful marriage, but not for someone seeking real romance. Listening to Will's story, Maya perceived what Will had never understood. All the time his real love had been April, only he had been too frightened to admit he loved someone he believed would never accept him. At Maya's insistence, they call on April and the truth of their love for one another becomes evident.

 

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Definitely Maybe
Directed by Adam Brookes
Written by Adam Brookes
Starring Ryan Reynolds as Will Hayes, Isla Fisher as April, Abigail Breslin as Maya Hayes,
Elizabeth Banks as Emily, Rachel Weisz as Summer Hartley
Copyright belongs to Universal Pictures

 

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Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind Based on Margaret Mitchell’s famous best-selling novel, Gone with the Wind is a historical romance set in northern Georgia during the Civil War. The story traces the lives of Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler, Ashley and Melanie Wilkes and the complex social and psychological factors that shape their aspirations, relationships and capacity for romantic fulfilment.

 

Articles on Gone with the wind

The relationship between Rhett and Scarlett is classic example of intense energy and turbulence, which never manages to become stable and harmonious. See Opposition Level 1 in Scale of Harmony. See the article and videos.

It also illustrates the problems inherent in a relationship based primarily on physical attraction. See Physical Attraction Level 2 in Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.

The quiet, idealized love between Ashley and Melanie is an exceptional example of Mental Love Level 7 in Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.

Their relationship also illustrates the highest level of harmony that can be achieved under the most challenging and impossible external circumstances. See Complementarity Level 10 in Scale of Romance See the article and videos.

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Plot Summary

 Scarlett is a narcissistic plantation belle, the daughter of a French aristocratic mother and an Irish peasant immigrant who managed to acquire a large cotton plantation and a lovely cultured wife. Scarlett inherited her mother’s beauty and manners and her father’s raw energy and ambition. Beneath her polished exterior, she is dynamo of unruly impulses. Although her beauty and flirtatious behavior have enslaved almost every young man in the region, Scarlett longs to marry Ashley Wilkes, the educated son of a distinguished Southern family. Heartbroken when Ashley marries his cousin Melanie instead, Scarlett marries Melanie’s brother just to spite Ashley. When her husband is killed in the war, she marries a store owner for his money, but never abandons her hope of finally winning Ashley for herself.

Scarlett’s only real relationship is with Rhett Butler, the dashing young blockade runner who was disowned by his family and expelled from Charleston for dishonorable behavior. Rhett sees right through Scarlett’s façade of ladylike elegance and knows the ruthless, unscrupulous, wildcat which lies behind her pretty face. Attracted by her energy, strength, courage and beauty, he pursues her first to become his mistress and later his wife. Scarlett’s heart has always been after Ashley. She admires Rhett’s brute strength, his courage to defy society, his tall handsome appearance and his considerable wealth, but she never feels for him anything like true affection.

But the real love story in Gone with the Wind is not between these two selfish, self-centered characters whose passion torments and ultimately ruins the happiness of both. It is rather the quiet, idealized love between Ashley and Melanie Wilkes that depicts the true qualities and power of love to nurture, save and protect, even in times of extraordinary upheaval. Though Scarlett has set her heart on marrying the refined and cultured Ashley, he chooses instead his mild-mannered and frail cousin Melanie and marries her. Melanie lacks the captivating beauty, energy, vitality, and feminine wiles of Scarlett. But her gentle heart is made of pure goodness and possesses extraordinary power of goodwill that protects Ashley through the long years of fighting and imprisonment. But Scarlett and Rhett's turbulent and unfulfilling marriage is marred by constant quarrels.After the death of their young daughter, Rhett finally leaves her. Only then does she realize how much she needs and wants him. Through her sobs in the final scene, Scarlett begins to think of her home Tara, from which she has always gained strength, and determines that she will return there and will think of a way to get Rhett back.

 

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Gone with the Wind
Directed by Victor Fleming
Written by Margaret Mitchell (novel) & Sidney Howard (screenplay)
Starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes,
Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler
Copyright belongs to Selznick International Pictures

 

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Possession

Possession Possession is a 2002 motion picture based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Byatt. The film relates the story of two scholars who uncover details of a passionate love affair between two 19th Century English poets. Their exploration of the past breaks down the defensive barriers of their intellectuality and awakens a flame of real emotional intensity. The movie contrasts the social barriers that constrained the relationship between two poets with the psychological barriers that restrain their modern counterparts.

 

Articles on Possession
Maud and Roland’s relationship shows an excellent example of Conflict in Level 2 in the Scale of Romance. Read more and watch video. See the article and videos.
Roland’s abstinence awakens a deeper relationship between them that melts the defensive barriers and leads them to a discovery about themselves. Read about it in the article Love, Romance, Sex & Marriage and watch videos. See the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

Maud Bailey, English poetry professor in her 30s, meets Roland Michell, an American scholar who travels to London on a fellowship. He has yet to break out from under his mentor's shadow until he finds a pair of love letters in the textbook that once belonged to one of his idols, a famous long dead Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash. Michell, after some sleuthing around, finds out that the letters were not written to his wife but another well known Victorian poet, Christabel LaMotte. Roland enlists the aid of a Dr. Maud Bailey, an expert on the life of the LaMotte. Together they strive to unravel the secret romance between Victorian poets Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte.

Neither of the moderns seem made for love and certainly not for each other. They are opposites bordering on contradictions. Bailey is guarded, stiff, irritable, almost frigid British academic, who wants to be addressed as Professor and has a prejudice against all things American. Suspicious of any man’s sexual intentions and eager to avoid relationships, she conceals her beauty to avoid attracting attention to herself. Roland is a casual, friendly, irreverent American who distains British formality. He has had enough of unfulfilling and sometimes hurtful relationships centered around sex and is leery of any intimacy.

As they uncover details of the passionate love affair between Ash and LaMotte, the poetry of that relationship infiltrates their cold hearts and awakens a flame of real emotional intensity. Maud’s heart melts and she feels tempted by the lure of sexual relationship. Uncharacteristically, it is Roland who pulls back for fear of spoiling a relationship he has come to value far more than physical pleasure. Maud feels confused and rejected. Her old fears and suspicions of intimate relationship resurface and they quarrel, yet the real basis for their quarrel is their deeper emotional attraction to one another which ultimately prevails. Delving beneath their surface differences, they discover bonds of genuine attraction and admiration that elevate the whole relationship to a far higher level..

 

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Directed by Neil LaBute
Written by A.S.Byatt (Book),Samuel Taylor(Original play),
Barbara Benedek and David Rayfiel(Screenplay)
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Maud Bailey, Aaron Eckhart as Roland Michell,
Jeremy Northam as Randolph Henry Ash, Jennifer Ehle as Christabel LaMotte
Copyright belongs to USA Films and Warner Bros. Pictures

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A Summer Story

A Summer Story is an emotionally gripping tale about romantic love. Set in England in 1902, it is based on Apple Tree by John Galsworthy. It offers a bittersweet anatomy of the mysteries of love and romantic desire. It portrays how compelling physical and emotional attraction my initially obscure and override social considerations, only to reappear later on and play havoc with a relationship.
Articles on A Summer Story

 

Learn how personal emotion clashes with class, caste, and culture in romance and marriage. See the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

The movie starts out with a young barrister Mr. Ashton and his best friend romping around the English countryside. They are forced to take temporary lodging at a farm after spraining his ankle. There Ashton meets the young innocent orphan, Megan who lives with her aunt's family who own the farm. Megan is fully charmed by Frank's elegant behavior, poetic inspiration and genuine attraction for her. In a natural and yet extremely nuanced way, she conveys all the intimacies, exhilarations, secrecy, and daring involved in passionate love. Frank is infatuated by Megan's natural beauty and sincere behavior, unadorned by fancy dress or fine manners. After confessing their mutual affection, they have a brief love affair, before Megan's aunt senses coming trouble and asks Frank to leave. Frank tells Megan he will go to the nearest town, Torquay, to draw some money from the bank and then return to take her back with him to London and eventually make her his wife.

On reaching Torquay, Frank goes to the bank and is told it will take at least five hours to get the necessary telegraphic confirmation from his bank in London, which means he will miss the train back to Megan and be late for their rendezvous. Meanwhile he runs into an old college friend and his friend's beautiful, flirtatious sister Stella. They compel him to spend the intervening time in their company, during which Stella develops an attraction for Frank. Frank returns to the bank that afternoon to find that the telegram has not yet arrived, so he is forced to remain the night in Torquay and hope to catch the last train of the week the following morning. He and Stella spend the evening together and begin to develop feelings for one another. Frank knew that he was honor bound to return for Megan after promising to do so, but the longer he was away from her and the more time he spent with Stella, the more he became conscious of the great social distance separating him from the beautiful country lass and the less eager he was to live up to his promise. The next day he finds that Megan has travelled all the way to Torquay in the hope of locating him, but the cowardly Ashton hides instead of facing the broken-hearted girl.

Twenty years later, he returns to the farm accompanied by Stella, whom he has married. He learns that when Megan returned to the farm from Torquay, she discovered she was pregnant and died giving birth to Frank's child. A timeless story of love and a powerful parable on the importance of decisions, "A Summer Story" tells how our choices can forever alter the course of our lives.

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Directed by Piers Haggard
Written by John Galsworthy (story) and Penelope Mortimer (writer)
Starring James Wilby as Mr. Ashton, Imogen Stubbs as Megan David, Sophie Ward as Stella Halliday
Copyright belongs to Atlantic Entertainment Group

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When Harry met Sally

When Harry met Sally One of the best-loved romantic comedies of all time, this movie poses important questions regarding the nature of successful intimate relationships. When Harry met Sally traces the psychological journey of a man and woman from casual acquaintance and sexual attraction to friendship and emotional intimacy. The story of Harry and Sally depicts a couple who discover how to convert a platonic relationship based on intense reaction into a close friendship love and finally marriage.

 

Articles on When Harry met Sally
Growing in Love - Harry and Sally's relationship is a fine example of Vital Attraction, Level 4 on the Scale of Romance See the article and videos.
Love, Romance, Sex & Marriage - From Sexual Attraction to Friendship to Affection Read the article and videos.
Contrast between two Relationships is brought out in this example of Reaction, Level 4 on the Scale of Harmony Read the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

Harry meets Sally when they share a car ride to New York City upon graduation from the University of Chicago. A few minutes into the trip, the conversation between them becomes heatedly contentious. Harry is strongly attracted to Sally physically. Sally is repulsed by his aggressive manners and obvious sexual intentions.

Over the next 13 years they meet repeatedly, then drift apart and meet again. Each passes through many failed relationships. Harry gets married and divorced. Eventually they develop a close, platonic friendship and find that they understand, like and enjoy each other’s company more than any other relationships they have been in. Observing the changing relationship between their close friends Jess and Marie, they acquire deeper insights into themselves and the challenges that every relationship has to overcome. Finally it dawns on them that life together is far happier and more fulfilling than their other romantic pursuits and an intense intimacy grows between them.

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When Harry Met Sally
Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Nora Ephron
Starring Meg Ryan as Sally Albright, Bill Crystal as Harry Burns, Carrie Fisher as Marie, Bruno Kirby as Jess
Copyright belongs to CastleRock Entertainment

 

 

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Sabrina

Sabrina This movie starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear is based on Samuel Taylor's play Sabrina Fair and is also a remake of the 1954 version starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Boggart and William Holding. The contrast between physical attraction and emotional love is beautifully depicted in the love affair of two brothers, David and Linus, with the chauffeur’s daughter, Sabrina. Younger brother David falls in love instantly with Sabrina’s beautiful appearance when he is on the verge of marrying another woman, whereas older brother Linus discovers to his surprise a gradual, inadvertent and unwilling affection growing when his only conscious aim was to save a big business deal. Sabrina matures from an infatuated teenager into an exceptional woman capable of mature insight, idealistic love and rich emotional intensity.

 

Articles on Sabrina
Sabrina and Linus’s relationship is based on deep admiration and mutual affection and is a good example of Admiration- Level 6 in the Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.
David’s feelings for Sabrina is a fine example of love based on physical attraction- Level 2 in the Scale of Romance. See the article and videos.
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Plot Summary

Sabrina Fairchild is the daughter of a chauffeur working for the Larrabees, one of the richest families on Long Island. She is a shy, awkward teenager madly infatuated with the Larrabee’s younger son David, a strikingly handsome and charming playboy who has the pick of New England society women longing for his attentions. His older brother, Linus, is a hard-nosed, serious businessman who has expanded a successful family business into one of the world's largest communications company, while David cavorts with one woman after another. Sabrina moves to France to work, and it transforms her from a shy girl to a mature, stunning woman. But on her return, she's still infatuated with David. Unfortunately, he's engaged to Elizabeth Tyson, a society woman whose father is planning to merge his business with the Larrabee’s company; and the billion- dollar deal is contingent on the marriage going through. David's ever wandering eyes land on Sabrina, and he’s ready to abandon Elizabeth Tyson and the deal to win the new love of his life.

Linus decides he must stop his brother from ruining his marriage and the deal. He woos Sabrina himself, but finds his own feelings getting mixed involved in the process. Although he lacks the charming manners of David, Sabrina discovers a deeper value in Linus as a human being and begins to feels an ennobling love for him that is both intense and uplifting. At the last moment, Linus confesses to her his real intentions and arranges for her to be reunited with David. Unable to switch her affections from one man to another on a moment’s notice, she decides to go back to Paris to nurse her broken heart and build a new life. Before her departure, her father reveals that he has earned $2 million on the stock market by listening to what was spoken by the Larrabees in their car and that money is intended for her.

When David learns that Linus is capable of sacrificing the deal of a lifetime for the sake of the chauffeur’s daughter, he realizes that Linus must feel a love for Sabrina that he himself is incapable of feeling for any woman. So he commits himself to marry Elizabeth, takes over negotiations on the Tyson deal and dispatches Linus to Paris where he is reunited with Sabrina .

 

 

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Sabrina (1954) - Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Samuel Taylor (Original Play); Billy Wilder  & Ernest Lehman (Screenplay)
Starring Humphrey Bogart as Linus Larrabee, Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild,
William Holden as David Larrabee

Copyright belongs to Paramount Pictures
Sabrina (1995) - Directed by  Sydney Pollack
Written by Barbara Benedek & David Rayfiel (Screenplay)
Starring Harrison Ford as Linus Larrabee, Julia Ormond as Sabrina Fairchild,
Greg Kinnear as David Larrabee
Copyright belongs to Paramount Pictures

 

 

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Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility vividly depicts the power of pure emotions, unmixed by possessiveness, impulsive attachment, egoism or assertiveness. Based on a novel by Jane Austen, the story revolves the romantic relationships of two sisters of very different character, the elder quiet, reserved and deeply emotional; the younger impulsive and expressive. Their characters and experiences are a study in contrast between vital infatuation and true affection.

 

Articles on Sense and Sensibility

 The relationship between Marianne and Willoughby is an example of Level 2 Physical Attraction on Scales of Romance. See the article and videos.

 Edward and Elinor's love is a fine example of True Affection, Level 5 on the Scales of Romance. See the article and videos.

Read more and ask questions about this movie in the Movie Forums.

 

Plot Summary

Mr. Dashwood died, leaving his mother and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, with very little means to support themselves. Quiet, homely Elinor develops an affection for Mr. Edward Ferrars, her sister-in-law's wealthy brother, and her feelings appear to be reciprocated, until she discovers that he has been secretly engaged for many years to Lucy Steele, whom he met in his youthful days but does not love anymore. When she learns of the engagement from Lucy herself, she is heartbroken. Though Elinor and Edward harbor strong feelings of love for one another, he feels bound by his commitment to Ms. Steele. Elinor feels resigned to accept that commitment and accepts the prospect of remaining unmarried. Then suddenly Edward receives a letter from Lucy informing him that she has fallen in love with his brother, Robert, and they have married. Edward goes to Elinor to express his true feelings and they are reunited happily in the end.

In contrast to her elder sister, Marianne is beautiful, outgoing, excitable, passionate and romantic. When she is caught in a storm with an injured leg, she is rescued by the dashing young Mr. Willoughby who happened to be passing by and carries her safely home. Marianne is charmed and swept off her feet by his physical appearance and gallant manners. Willoughby courts her and leads her to believe he is deeply in love. She is heartbroken when she later learns about his bad reputation with women and his engagement to a wealthy woman for her money. Marianne discovers that a lover's character, capacity for real affection and personal values are a far truer and more lasting basis for successful relationship than external appearances. She matures and marries Brandon, a 37 year old Colonel who loves her deeply.

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Directed by Ang Lee
Book written by Jane Austen
Screenplay by Emma Thompson
Starring Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood,Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood
Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars,Greg Wise as John Willoughby
Copyright belongs to Columbia Pictures Corporation

 

 

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  • Wikipedia provides the plot summary, background, publication history and extensive links to sites on Sense and Sensibility, the cast and producers.
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