10 Classic Movie Romances: Critics' Choice!

Rick and Ilsa, Jack and Rose, Ennis and Jack -- Lisa Schwarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman name their picks for the best big-screen love stories
By Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum
February 10, 2011 at 05:00 PM EST

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10. Before Sunset (2004)

Emilie De La Hosseraye

Jesse and Celine
Nine years after they spent a night wandering through Vienna, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reunite in the blissed-out, even-more-entrancing sequel to Before Sunrise. —OG

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9. In the Mood for Love (2001)?

Everett Collection

Chow Mo-Wan and Mrs. Chan
Set in a dreamscape Hong Kong in 1962, Wong Kar-wai’s hothouse tale of erotic push and pull between a couple whose own spouses are having an affair makes a passionate case for the sexiness of restraint. —LS

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8. Summertime (1955)?

Everett Collection

Renato and Jane
Katharine Hepburn and Venice: two names that spell romance. See it for Kate’s touching performance as an aging lonelyheart who gets one last chance at love. —OG

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7. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)?

Everett Collection

George and Mary
What makes the life of George Bailey (James Stewart) wonderful is his perky librarian wife (Donna Reed). When George breaks down on the telephone and tells her he loves her, it’s one of the most wrenching romantic moments in Hollywood history. —Owen Gleiberman

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6. WALL-E (2008)?

WALL-E and EVE
In a wasteland future, two robots demonstrate love?s finest, most essential qualities in one of the movies’ most profound meditations on compassion and commitment. —LS

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5. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Everett Collection

Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist
Love and desire ?surprise a couple forced to hide their longing. The love ?affair — between two cowboys — is specific. Our empathy is universal. —LS

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4. Notorious (1946)

Everett Collection

Devlin and Alicia
Cary Grant, as a secret agent, and Ingrid Bergman, as the daughter of a Nazi spy, enjoy one of the longest kisses in screen history in Hitchcock’s gorgeous dark swoon of an espionage thriller. —OG

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3. Annie Hall (1977)

Everett Collection

Alvy and Annie
The neurotic romance between Woody Allen’s wisecracking Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton’s adorable Annie Hall captures the fleeting, melancholy beauty of modern relationships. —OG

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2. Titanic (1997)

Merie W. Wallace

Jack and Rose
James Cameron’s sweeping saga set aboard a sinking ship is an old-fashioned epic brilliantly adapted to set modern hearts beating. Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose’s (Kate Winslet) hearts will go on. —LS

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1. Casablanca (1942)

Everett Collection

Rick and Ilsa
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman — Rick and Ilsa forever! — will always have Paris. We will always have one of the grandest, most quotable love stories ever told. —Lisa Schwarzbaum

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