The Jerusalem Cinematheque will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year with a special program called Whirlwind Romance that will run from February 12-15 and will include both classics and just-released films.
It features two Humphrey Bogart movies, including what many consider the greatest movie romance of all times, Casablanca (1942). Bogart plays Rick, the cynical proprietor of a “gin joint,” into which walks his old flame, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), who is married to the most noble man in the world, the leader of the anti-Nazi European resistance.
Ilsa thought her husband was dead when she let Rick romance her in Paris, and the rest is history - but it’s history that is well worth seeing again, and if you’ve never seen it on the big screen, book your tickets now.
Audrey Hepburn was never more luminous or appealing than in Sabrina, Billy Wilder’s 1954 romance that stars Hepburn as the timid daughter of a chauffeur to a wealthy family who comes back from Paris a beautiful, confident woman and captivates the two sons of her father’s boss.
One is a playboy, portrayed by William Holden, while the other is a cold businessman (Bogart) whose heart needs to be melted by her big smile. Hollywood kept casting the young Hepburn opposite much older costars – Bogart was about 30 years her senior – but she always made each romance seem plausible.
Richard Gere had one of his good-guy leading man roles in An Officer and Gentleman (1982), in contrast to his darker roles from the same period, such as American Gigolo. In the 1982 film, he plays a young man trying to prove himself at a naval training academy, who falls for a local factory worker, portrayed by Debra Winger. To say these two had chemistry is an understatement; they are so good that it will take your mind off the script’s clichés.
If you liked My Fair Lady, you’ll enjoy the original, non-musical version of Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion (1938), which stars Leslie Howard (who was Ashley in Gone with the Wind) and Wendy Hiller in the lead roles and was directed by Howard and Anthony Asquith.
Gregory’s Girl (1980) is a charming romance by Bill Forsyth set in Scotland about a goofy boy who falls for a gorgeous girl who just got onto the soccer team and is a much better player than him.
More recent movies
If you’d like to see something more recent, the program includes the Israeli film, The Property by Dana Modan, starring Rivka Michaeli and Sharon Strimban and based on a graphic novel by Rutu Modan. It’s about a grandmother and granddaughter who go to Warsaw in the 1990s to reclaim family property, and both find romance where they least expect it.
For the full program, go to jer-cin.org.il/en