10 Bitter/sweet Love Story Films to Make You Sigh

Ok, some people may call these "chick flicks." So what.

Brief Encounter (Not rated) Made in 1945 and based on a Noel Coward play, this film is certainly dated by today's movie making standards. But...its beautifully filmed, excellently acted and still one of the best love stories ever filmed. Two very upright, solidly married English people meet by accident and what ensues will break your heart.

A Walk on the Moon (R) A bit of the same basic story as Brief Encounter, this film takes it to different level, thus the R rating. Husband? Children? or The Blouse Man (a peddlar selling at the summer camp where the story takes place)? Viggo Mortensen plays the blouse man, so what do you think? The story takes place during the "sexual revolution" of 1969, including a trip to Woodstock.

Somewhere in Time (PG) This movie is as romantic as you can get and with a PG rating. Its not easy to be in love with a woman who lived years and years before you were born. But where there's a will, there's a way. This move had (and probably still does) a fan club of its own.

Bridges of Madison County (PG 13) I doubt the film quite reached the popularity of the book, but its a not-to-be-missed love story. Romantic, sweet, sad -- what more could you ask?

Once (R) You'll watch this more than once just for the music. And maybe, like me, will buy the CD. A street musician and a pianist meet and discover that their talents mesh enough to get together to make beautiful music. Is it a romance as well? Watch it and find out. Oh yes, the R rating is just for language.

The Lake House (PG) Alternate Reality -- she's in 2006, he's in 2004 and, through correspondence, they fall in love. It would be helpful if they could get together. It wouldn't be much of a movie if they didn't, would it?

84 Charing Cross Road (PG) The movie was based on the book which is just an exchange of letters over years and distance. The movie brings it to life. He is a bookseller in London, she's a writer in New York City. A love of books brings them together, if just by mail. Its a love story, whether you think so or not.

LadyHawke (PG13) A knight, a beauty, a pickpocket and the curse of an evil bishop. By day, she's a hawk, by night, he's a wolf. See it and find out if they live happily ever after.

P.S. I Love You (PG13) They are married, in love, and he dies. But, mysteriously, letters start arriving from him urging her to get on with her life. How she does, well that's the story.

Shirley Valentine (R) Not so much a woman/man love story, but a woman/life one. 40ish, married, unappreciated, with no one to talk to but the walls, an unexpected invitation to go on a trip to Greece changes everything. You'll cheer for her all the way. Award winning including an Oscar nomination for Pauline Collins.

Summertime (Unrated - or at least I did not find one) Summertime in Venice, Kate Hepburn playing a lonely "spinster" (1955 film) who meets and is very attracted to a handsome, charming Italian. Does she stay or return home with a broken heart -- or maybe not. A beautifully filmed David Lean film. It earned Oscar nominations for both Lean and Hepburn.

And last, but suggested in an earlier blog, don't forget Dear Frankie as it fits into this category also.