Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
We bring you 10 movie romances that were doomed by fate and circumstances.
A big part of the cinema's appeal is its ability to take us places we've never been -- but to really work, that escapism has to be grounded to universal themes, and like the Good Book says, the greatest of these is love. As any Twilight fan could tell you, nothing ratchets up the drama like star-crossed love, and to celebrate the imminent release of the franchise's second installment, New Moon, we've put together a list of some of Hollywood's most noteworthy -- and most persistent -- couples. We couldn't cover them all, of course, but if you've ever shed tears for the injustice of an onscreen love unfairly denied, you're sure to swoon over this week's Total Recall!
Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen (Sid & Nancy)
Musically, Sid Vicious was the weakest link in the Sex Pistols, but for many, he embodied the spirit of punk rock with his charisma, fashion sense, and kamikaze behavior. Nancy Spungen was a troubled teenager who ingratiated herself with a number of punk bands. Add oodles of brown sugar to the mix, and you've got the template for star-crossed rock 'n' roll love. Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy is an account of their sad two-year relationship, which culminated in the death of Spungen -- most likely by Vicious' hand -- and stars Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb do a remarkable job of embodying these doomed souls. Though some of Vicious' friends (most notably Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten) felt Cox failed to capture his true nature, this remains a haunting portrait of a couple on the path to mutually assured destruction.
Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker (Heavenly Creatures)
When aren't Kate Winslet's characters besotted by star-crossed love? She's been undone by circumstance in suburbia (Little Children, Revolutionary Road), on the ocean (Titanic), and aboard the Long Island Rail Road (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), among many other locales. In Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, Winslet (in her debut) plays a headstrong New Zealand teenager named Juliet who befriends the introverted Pauline (Melanie Lynskey). Together, they form an intense bond and disappear into a fantasy world of their own creation -- that is, until the mean adults in their lives spoil the fun. Heavenly Creatures deftly juggles the fantastic and the ordinary, but at its center is a touching relationship between two outsiders who long to break out of their humdrum lives -- and are willing to go to desperate extremes.
Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan (A Walk to Remember)
"You have to promise you won't fall in love with me," good girl Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore) tells bad boy Landon Carter (Shane West), who turns out to be terrible at keeping promises. A bucket list transforms into a date list that will continue to set unrealistic boyfriend expectations for years to come in A Walk to Remember. It's only after the two do fall in love that Jamie reveals she is terminally ill, leaving a love-struck Landon desperate to help her complete a list of life "to-dos." Putting love up against the tests of high school hierarchy and time, the couple embodies the old cliché of "living every moment as if it was your last," because in this case, it could be. And if you're looking for love and being forced to do after-school activities for a prank gone wrong, go for drama club.
Josh Baskin and Susan Lawrence (Big)
Being a kid is hard, sure, but try being a kid in a grownup's body. It might seem like an unbelievably awesome idea on paper, but it's not worth losing your childhood over, as Josh Baskin (David Moscow) discovers when his wish to be "big" comes true overnight. When he's transformed into a young Tom Hanks, Josh must embark on a very adult life, which includes not only fortuitously landing a job as a toy tester, but also inadvertently falling in love with one of his grownup colleagues, Susan (Elizabeth Perkins). As Josh grows closer to Susan, he also begins to pine for his old life, and he must reconcile his budding romance with his desire to be a just a kid again. Is this a peculiar example of star-crossed love? Maybe. Is it a little creepy that a grown woman could fall for a man with a child's mind? Possibly. But if ever there was a relationship that was doomed from the start by fate, Big would certainly be one of them.
Tony and Maria (West Side Story)
When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way... well, unless you've just met a girl named Maria. Then it's tough to keep coolly cool, boy -- especially since she's related to a member of the Sharks, whom you've promised to beat on this whole buggin', ever-lovin' street. Loosely based upon Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story explored inner city racial tensions by turning the Montagues and Capulets into a pair of warring street gangs -- the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks -- who are both displeased by the budding romance between Jet Tony (Richard Beymer) and Shark shorty Maria (Natalie Wood). The 1961 Best Picture Oscar winner is pretty dated in spots (not least because Avon Barksdale's crew from The Wire could wipe the floor with both the Sharks and the Jets without breaking a sweat), but its eye-popping colors, great songs, and the poignant, doomed love story at the center can still exert a strong pull.
Dave J. on 11-19-2009 05:06 PM
I've only seen only a few of those films, but again not my favorite genre.