Valentine's Day Film Suggestions

The Princess Bride 1987

The Princess Bride is, according to my 17 year old son, the best film ever! And very romantic.

Westley: I told you I would always come for you. Why didn't you wait for me?
Buttercup: Well... you were dead.
Westley: Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
Buttercup: I will never doubt again.
Westley: There will never be a need.

A Knight's Tale 2001

A Knight's Tale is also a fairy tale, a sort of Cinderella tale for the guys. Anything is possible if you believe.

William: It is strange to think, I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face. The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they could be passed through the eye of a needle. I miss you like the sun misses the flower; like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to. I next compete in the city of Paris, I will find it empty and in the winter if you are not there. Hope guides me, that is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time that I look upon you.

Shakespeare in Love 1998

Shakespeare in Love is romance itself. Who better than The Bard of Avon to teach us about love.

Queen Elizabeth: Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.
Viola De Lesseps: Oh, but they can! 

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest is romance with a comic twist. Oscar Wilde mixes equal amounts of love and silliness.

Cecily: You must not laugh at me, darling, but it has always been a girlish dream of mine to love a man named Ernest.

Sense and Sensibility 1995

Sense and Sensibility takes a wonderful book by Jane Austen and brings it to life on the screen so well, it will make your heart ache.

Elinor Dashwood: What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.

Jane Eyre 2011

Jane Eyre is an incredibly romantic book. The recent film leaves a lot out, but not the romance!

Rochester: I offer you my hand, my heart. Jane, I ask you to pass through life at my side. You are my equal and my likeness. Will you marry me?
Jane Eyre: Are you mocking me?
Rochester: You doubt me.
Jane Eyre: Entirely.

Miss Potter 2006

Miss Potter is sweet and romantic. You're never too old for love! (and bunnies!)

Let me teach you how to dance
let me lead you to the floor
simply place your hand in mine
and then think of nothing more
let the music cast its spell
give the atmosphere a chance
simply follow where I lead
let me teach you how to dance

Lady Jane 1986

Lady Jane is a tragedy as well as a romance. It is not historically accurate, but it will make you believe in true love. Hey, Carey Elwes is in 2 of my picks! Fancy that.

Jane: [reading] The soul takes flight to the world that is eternal... invisible. But there arriving she is sure of bliss, and forever dwells in paradise.

An Ideal Husband 1999

An Ideal Husband is another Oscar Wilde, but this one is more of a commentary on the kind of love you find in an established marriage. Still a bit silly, but a very lovely ending.

Lord Arthur Goring: Gertrude, it is not the perfect, but rather the imperfect who have need of love.
Gertrude: You seem to know a great deal about it all of a sudden.
Lord Arthur Goring: Oh, I hope not. All I know, Gertrude, is that it takes great courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it. And even more courage to see it in the one you love. Gertrude, you have more courage than any woman I have ever known. Do not be afraid now to use it.

Persuasion 1995

And for my final suggestion, Persuasion 1995 for the letter scene alone...

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago."

Sigh! Please add your romantic film suggestions in the comments. I just listed period dramas, but tell me which ones you can't live without, period or not. Happy Valentines Day!

Lady Jane 1986- Nine Day Queen

Lady Jane 1986 with Helena Bonham Carter and Carey Elwes

Lady Jane is a lovely film (fairly historically inaccurate if that bothers you) about Lady Jane Grey, a cousin of the children of King Henry VIII who actually sat on the throne for 9 days after the death of King Edward VI (the sickly teen and only son of Henry VIII). She had been placed on the throne by her father-in-law John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland in order to continue the Protestant Reformation but was quickly booted off the throne by her cousin Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary) who had all of the remaining Catholics in England behind her.

A young Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Jane Grey

Helena Bonham Carter was a mere 20 years old when this was released, so she looks quite convincing as the tiny 16 year old Lady Jane. Carey Elwes ("As you wish!") is adorable as Guilford Dudley although he starts out as a drunk, gambling good-for-nothing who must be plucked from a brothel in order to marry the virtuous Lady Jane. Don't worry, it all turns out well...and then of course they get sent to the Tower of London, but you expected that didn't you?

Lady Jane and Guilford Dudley tumbling in the meadows

In between the forced marriage and their heads being chopped off, there is a wonderful love story, embellished for the historical chick flick that it is, but mostly based in history. Notice I did say mostly for those who are well versed in the history of the Tudor era. OK, so there is no evidence of her being in love with Guilford Dudley. And there is no basis for the storyline about her minting a new shilling. Boy would that be a valuable coin! Also there's no proof of the couple attempting social reform. But heck, it's a movie and the love story makes me go all gooey! The scene where Jane is clomping around in Guilfords boots is adorable and I am OK with it not being historically accurate. I also doubt that they smashed all of their wedding crystal, but...can we call it artistic license?

Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Jane Grey- before Bellatrix Lestrange!

Let's just say that you have been forewarned that liberties with history have been taken.

Lady Jane and Guilford Dudley-are we happy yet?

So now, for the true history lovers. Below we have the only purported portrait of Lady Jane Grey. The story behind the portrait is here if you want to read it. All other images were apparently painted so long after she was executed that there is no hope of them being a good likeness. She apparently had reddish blond hair as in the picture below, and Guilford was a good looking blond youth by all accounts, although slightly spoilt by his mother.

The film recreates the execution accurately with the tiny 16 year old girl groping for the executioners block saying "Where is it? What do I do?" The poor dear young girl!

Her last words were unfortunately changed.  In the film, she whimpers: "Guilford!" In real life, she said loudly and with great dignity: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit."