10 of Cinema’s Greatest Romantic Heroines

#10 the Lover

Set in Vietnam, this romantic coming of age story about a young girl and a wealthy Chinese businessman will surely tug at your heartstrings. Lonely, isolated and desperate a young French girl finds herself alone in the world amid domestic violence and crumbling fortunes. She meets a wealthy businessman who falls for her immediately. Precocious for her age she thought it wise to keep her real feelings to herself and deals with her lover with an icy façade. Too often the film is bogged down by too much melodrama but it picks up in the very end when the young girl alone in the ship bound for France realizes her sorrow at not having loved completely and feels her immense loss. This movie is an autobiography of writer Margaret Duras.

#9 Pretty In Pink

Our list won’t be complete without mentioning one of the romantic teenybopper films from the eighties. This movie is about teenage love and social cliques in high school. Andie Walsh is a poor but talented girl from the wrong side of the tracks and her romantic interest is Blane one of the rich kids in her high school. After a brief meeting with Blane in a record store where she work she is smitten with him. The catch is Andie Walsh and her best friend Duckie are regularly harassed by Blane’s friends the other rich kids labeling them as weirdoes. But Blane also has eyes for Andie and the rest of the movie revolves around the conflicts they encounter from coming from different worlds.

#8 Spiderman

In the pages of comic books the relationship of Mary Jane Watson and Spiderman has always been romantic. With the deft handling of the Spiderman franchise this romance further bloomed in cinema. Mary Jane Watson is your typical girl next door with ambitions of making it on her own. She had a string of romances but she has always had a thing for her next door neighbor Peter Parker. Peter Parker, likewise, had been smitten with her since the beginning. The Spiderman franchise although it revolves around superheroes fighting off villains remains to have one theme, that love helps conquer great odds. This film also features the most romantic kiss in a movie of all time. Mary Jane Watson and Spiderman’s upside down kiss.


#7 Bridget Jones’s Diary

Feisty, smart and funny is what describes Bridget Jones. This well loved heroine that burst into the scene on the new millennium easily made Renee Zellwegger an instant star. After being dumped by her boss, Daniel Cleaver, for a sexier woman Bridget Jones fights back by being the best she could be: by being herself. Undaunted by her ill luck Bridget Jones managed to pick up her career and her love life from the shambles it had come from finding true romance with barrister Mark Darcy. Just when things are going smoothly her ex flame Daniel Cleaver wants her back. Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver fight it out with Bridget ending up nursing a passed out Daniel Cleaver. However, Bridget doesn’t want to be with him because of all his lies and past deceits. She ends up with Mark Darcy. This film is not just about romance it’s also about how one woman strived to be herself despite not being always accepted and loved for who she is and find that romance and success is possible for her.

#6 Pretty Woman

What happens in your fantasy after the knight on the white horse rescues you? "She rescues him right back"
This is a famous line from the phenomenal movie that broke world records and soared Julia Roberts to fame. Who wouldn’t love this story? It’s a classic with a twist. Vivian ward is a prostitute with a heart of Gold accidentally turns up the interest of millionaire Edward Lewis after asking her for directions. They spend the night together and many nights thereafter exploring deep emotional issues with each other they would otherwise not disclose with others. Soon Lewis and Ward form an unusual bond together. However the reality of Vivian’s profession rears its ugly head as Edward confesses to one of his associates that she is a hooker. Feeling hurt and betrayed she leaves Edward. Edward predictably woos back Vivian with music and flowers and they live happily ever after.

#5 Cinderella

The story of Cinderella is probably one of the most reworked stories that give people a good feeling of poetic justice. Beautiful, charming and well mannered despite hardships Cinderella is an enduring tale that is best loved by both children and adults. The 1950’s animation released by Disney is one of the most classical adaptations of the movie and stays true to the plot of an impoverished young woman maltreated by her jealous relatives. Of course Cinderella gets her prince in the end and they live happily ever after.

#4 Titanic

With a lyrical background music and a plot that would never fail to catch audience’s emotions, Titanic grossed a lot of money when it was released at the beginning of the new millennium mainly because of its charismatic heroes. Rose and Jack are the main characters in the story and they lead us to the world of rich people in 19th century America. Amid all the glamour and wealth is the underlying hypocrisy of high society that Rose wants to desperately get out of. Jack “saves” her and teaches her in the brief time they’ve been together to love her life. The story ends in tragedy with Jack’s death but learning her lesson Rose moved on with her life and cherished the life that Jack sacrificed to give her.

#3 Sabrina

This film was made in the 1950’s when actors and actresses had natural grace and glamour. This quality translated well into film especially in the film Sabrina about a young ugly duckling girl transforming into glorious womanhood. Sabrina Fairchild is the daughter of the rich Larrabees family chauffeur who was sent to Paris to study culinary arts. Armed with a newfound grace and sophistication Sabrina aims to fulfill into fruition her lifelong desire for the once unreachable David Larrabee. Because David is already engaged to marry, Linus, the older workaholic brother, directed Sabrina’s affection towards him and they ended up falling in love instead. The movie ends with both of them sailing off to Paris.

#2 Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zefferelli won critical acclaim and best cinematography and costume design at the Oscars. It is regarded by most as still the best adaptation of the Shakespearean play. Romeo and Juliet explore the young love between the scions of two warring families and their eventual tragic death.

#1 Gone With the Wind

“As God is my witness I’ll never go hungry again!”
The greatest romantic heroine of all time would be Margaret Mitchell’s heroine in her Pulitzer Prize Winning novel Gone with the Wind. The movie opens with a radiant and flirty Scarlett O’ Hara courted by many young men but we see the eventual tragedy as her love remains to be unfulfilled by her real crush Ashley Wilkes. But Scarlett O’ Hara is more than just a spoiled little rich girl as we see her mettle being tested in the time of war and famine in the South thus leading to one of the most quotable lines above. Gone with the Wind is a movie that boasts of great dialogue and great acting. It told the unforgettable tale of one woman’s struggle to live and survive war and heartbreak, definitely a classic.