Best Tragic Love Story on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Seah]

My picks not mentioned here:

Chasing Amy (really gets me everytime)
Il Mare (Korean)
Love Letter (Japanese)
Cyrano de Bergerac

 

[JonZ]

Leaving Las Vegas
Immortal Beloved
Bugsy
Mulholland Drive
Donnie Brasco

 

[Michael Martin]

Hmm...since the request was for "best" (and realizing that's a subjective call) after reading this thread, I'd revise my recommendations. In order, the top 4 tragic love stories on DVD:

1. Casablanca
2. Titanic
3. Moulin Rouge
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

 

[Runar_R]

"The Lovers on the bridge" (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf)

"The end of the affair"

"Far from heaven"

 

[ChrisBEA]

One of my favorite films, and one I always considered a love story:
The Crow

 

[Brook K]

In A Year With 13 Moons
Tabu
Written On The Wind
Letter From An Unknown Woman

 

[AlexHL]

Great choices, Brook! Written on the Wind is one my favorite films by Sirk. I recently saw Tabu and I was impressed by the immense beauty of it.

Btw, the French R2 of Letter from an Unknown Woman has non-removable subs. But there is a Chinese R0 (Boying) with optional English, French and Chinese subs. The English subtitling is sloppy, but the picture quality is fantastic. I suspect it's the same transfer as the one used for the R2.

 

[Juan M. Rico]

The most tragic of them all is not yet on DVD: Stealing Heaven, the story of Abelard and Eloise.

 

[JonZ]

Haute/High Tension

 

[Patrick H.]

Don't underestimate the power of Edward Scissorhands...a very sad film if you catch it in the right frame of mind. (Danny Elfman's score has a lot to do with it.) Vertigo is probably my #1 choice, however, and Moulin Rouge is always a killer, even though you know how it ends right from the first shot!

 

[Stevie O]

How about "What Dreams May Come" with Robin Williams, Anabella Sciorra, and Cuba Gooding Jr

It doesn't get any more tragic than when all the main characters actually die

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ooh, good one! I forgot about that. I need to check out some Sirk originals. . .

Would Leon The Professional count, perhaps? (The theatrical cut not so much, but the relationship is a big part of the director's cut.)

 

[Brook K]

You certainly should Aaron.

Thanks for the info about the Chinese Letter From an Unknown Woman disc Alex, I'll have to track it down. You should track down the Milestone/Image R1 DVD of Tabu if it is still available. Nice image and a very interesting commentary track that recounts the convoluted story of the film's production.

Definitely agree with Edward Scissorhands. Another film I should have mentioned is Takeshi Kitano's beautiful A Scene At The Sea, though to my knowledge the existing DVD's are pretty poor.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Though I consider the ending to be a "happy" one, or at least a peaceful and serene resolution, I guess most would consider death
to be inherently tragic... so "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

And while I have similar qualms regarding whether the ending is truly a tragic one (again death
might seem inherently so), I'd also suggest "Breaking the Waves".

 

[James N]

The ultimate:

Scenes From A Marriage.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Many years ago, I went to visit my at-the-time girlfriend's mother, and noticed a lot of interesting artwork on the walls. It turned out that they were done by the woman who was the inspiration for the Lena Olin character in the film, who had been the best friend of my girlfriend's mom. She showed me some pictures of them together, and became very melancholy because her friend had committed suicide (I think they mention that at the end of the film -- not really a spoiler since it isn't in the film itself). Because of that, that movie's always felt extra-tragic to me.

 

[Rich Malloy]

Ooh yes... "Scenes from a Marriage". Brilliant. Devastating. True.

(Thank god Criterion didn't put some hackneyed quote like that on the cover... or any of their covers for that matter!)

I haven't seen it yet, but I wonder how many of you are aware of Bergman's latest film "Saraband"? I believe it's to open in the States next month. It happens to be a sequel to "Scenes from a Marriage" (and I guess also "From the Life of Marionettes"). Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it!

Which brings to mind another one... Liv Ullman's film from an Ingmar Bergman script: "Faithless". The R1 DVD isn't exactly great (search in this forum for comments on that disc), but this is definitely "Scenes from a Marriage" territory, and seems quite explicitly to be about Bergman and Ullman's relationship (we even come to discover in the final credits that Erland Josephson's character is named "Bergman").

 

[KDHM]

Turks Fruit aka (Turkish Delight) 1973 Paul Verhoeven

 

[Brook K]

Having just watched Faithless last night, Rich, I agree on all counts.

 

[Dave Miller]

How about Baz Lurhman's version of ROMEO AND JULIET?

Very tragic, very well done.

Peace,

DM