Literary Love Stories
- Emma
- Pride and Prejudice
- Lost in Austen
- Becoming Jane
- Romeo + Juliet
- Much Ado About Nothing
Hollywood loves to borrow ideas from great books and has returned to the plays of William Shakespeare and novels of Jane Austen countless times. You gotta hand it to the Bard and Ms. Austen – they knew how to write a love story. From Emma to Pride and Prejudice, Austen’s strong-willed heroines, their dashing suitors (Mr. Darcy, anyone?) and the cat-and-mouse courtships make for excellent screen translations. It’s enough to make any girl wish she could go back in time and be wooed.
One lucky modern girl got to live out her deepest Darcy fantasies in the miniseries Lost in Austen. And for a look at Austen’s own love life, watch Becoming Jane. As for the playwright and poet Shakespeare, just try to name a love story more tragic than his Romeo + Juliet. And if you like your love with more wit and less weep, try Much Ado About Nothing. Watch Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson verbally spar as sparks fly. It’s up to you to decide the age-old debate of what’s better – the book or the movie.
Foreign Flings
- Once
- Amélie
- Chocolat
- Lagaan
- Bride and Prejudice
- Like Water for Chocolate
- A Very Long Engagement
Whether you are studying abroad or are in the mood for an exotic adventure, pick a romantic foreign film.
If your sights are set on Europe, start in Dublin with Once and its Oscar-winning soundtrack. Music fans will recognize the two leads from the band, The Swell Season, and romance fans can enjoy the fact that the pair started dating in real life during this film. Francophiles will love Amélie for its gorgeous Paris backdrops and whimsical, sweet story of two dreamers. In the film Chocolat, temptation, in the form of Johnny Depp and cocoa, beckons as Juliette Binoche opens a chocolate shop in a small French village during Lent.
Head east to imperial India in the Bollywood movie Lagaan if you crave four hours of love triangles and loyalty expressed in song. Finally Bride and Prejudice is, yes, you guessed it, a global retelling of the classic love story that sends you from L.A. to Bombay. Need some more? Try Like Water for Chocolate or A Very Long Engagement. Just watch out ladies, you may just fall in love with that exchange student after watching some of these films.
