Thursday 13 February 2014

Passionate Kisses

You settle in to watch a movie. There is undeniable chemistry between two people on the screen. You are wondering where the attraction will lead, and you usually don't have long to wait. 

It progresses as follows: smoldering glances, sometimes sarcastic, clever dialogue, and then BOOM, an apartment door crashes open as the couple who just met burst into the room, kissing, groping, and ripping each other's clothes off in an unbridled display of passion as they bang into furniture, walk backwards, swirl around corners, all while keeping their lips locked on each other. They fall onto the bed, sofa, floor, table, or wherever, as the camera lovingly works its way along their nude, always perfect, often tattooed, bodies. The camera lingers on thrusting buttocks and faces contorted in ecstasy.

Any one with living loins will find this scenario titillating the first twenty or thirty times, but then, well, it starts to get a little old.  When you can anticipate how every passionate scene is going to go, when you roll your eyes as the door slams open, when you think to yourself "here we go again," then maybe these scenes are in danger of becoming hackneyed, formulaic.

These images may also set up unrealistic expectations for real couples getting to know each other.  Is there something wrong with the guy if he prefers a subtler approach, if the girl would rather undress slowly instead of tearing her blouse off? What if the first encounter is a little shy, maybe awkward?  Is there something wrong with them if their passion doesn't knock doors off their hinges?

Sometimes what is not seen, but imagined, is more romantic, while still getting the point across.

In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some films, or scenes from them, that illustrate this:

Sophia Loren and Cary Grant dancing to "Almost in Your Arms," in  Houseboat.

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant saying goodnight in To Catch a Thief.

Apollonia and Michael in The Godfather, Part I.

Anne Archer and Tommy Lee Jones dancing to "Time Slips Away" in Man of the House.

The dance scenes between Patrick Swayze (Johnny) and Jennifer Grey (Baby) in Dirty Dancing.

The Franco Zefferelli version of Romeo and Juliet.

Armand Assante and the character of Maria in The Mambo Kings.

James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in Enough Said.


Spoiler alert: There are no broken door hinges, or even a tattoo.

Happy Valentine's Day.