Tragically beautiful
In describing his musical compositions, the celebrated composer, Angelo Badalamenti, says, “My (musical) world is a little bit dark… a little bit off-center. I think of it as tragically beautiful. That is how I would describe what I love best: tragically beautiful.”
That’s exactly how I like my romance films: tragically beautiful.
While love stories with happy endings have their merit, the unfulfilled and heartbreaking onscreen romances are so much more fascinating and brave because they really explore the depths of human emotion and the complicated nature of love.
These intense films don’t shy away from the many unexpected ways that people deal with horrible sadness. An image that will stay with me forever is that of the French woman licking blood from her fists to remind her of her deceased love from “across the Rhine.”
I will also remember Heath Ledger’s reticent Ennis throwing up in a barn, literally sick with grief. Or a lonely female assassin sobbing and masturbating after the object of her affection tells her to forget him in Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels.
While some may find these seemingly overwrought expressions of great sorrow off-putting, I find that they are sorely missing from the cinema. In trying to not alienate the audience, many filmmakers are selling their story short by not showing these less flattering portrayals of pining and grieving.
More mainstream and “uplifting” films seem to advocate that there is a certain right and wrong way to love, to mourn, and to heal. They also often overly simplify these things.
The cheerier films also carry that message that everything will be okay in the end. Sometimes it just can’t be okay. Or it can’t be okay for a while.
In Hiroshima Mon Amour, there is hope that the unnamed woman will get over her German soldier lover, but is it a matter of days, weeks, years? And how do his death and his enemy status affect her? Would his death have haunted her less if he had been a French boy? I would argue that the underlying guilt over her forbidden love and the vigor of youthful romance made a lasting impact on her.
These “tragically beautiful” movies tell you that it may not always work out, as well as really explore the pain that often comes with being in love.
You may wonder why I would want to saturate my brain with these sad stories. Isn’t life sad enough as is?
I think it’s refreshing to have these constant reminders of the fact that things in life may not always turn out the way you want them to.
Also, there really is a magnificent quality to these darker sides of romance. The intense emotions are rich material to work with. Actors can show their range and talent in tackling these challenging roles. Directors can take more artistic liberties in conveying these emotions. If done right, these tragic love stories are more than just tearjerkers (a la The Notebook).
