By Meaghan Walsh Gerard
Romeo and Juliet. Heathcliff and Catherine. Scarlett and Rhett. Some couples are doomed to despair, yet they can’t stay apart. And as long as there has been impossible couples, storytellers have been breaking hearts with the tales of star-crossed lovers.
From the outset, we know these movies don’t have a happy ending, yet we can’t help but hope these couples somehow escape their dark fate and live happily ever after. If nothing else, these movies make that bad blind date in our past not seem so bad.
Double Indemnity (1944)
The Couple That Slays Together, Stays Together. Or something like that, right? Insurance salesman Fred MacMurray meets a married Barbara Stanwyck and the two hit it off. And they come up with a dastardly plan to murder the husband in a way that will make the insurance company pay out double. Surely, when your first date consists of planning a homicide, you can’t expect the relationship to last.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Another flagrantly criminal couple from history, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) shoot up cars and rob banks across the Depression-era America. Their sprees become more desperate as the law closes in, and it becomes clear their relationship cannot withstand being on the lam.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Opera is known for its dramatic, doomed romances and La Boheme is one of the best. Baz Luhrmann sets his adaptation in turn-of-the-century Paris. Penniless composer Christian (Ewan McGregor) falls for stunning performer Satine (Nicole Kidman). Despite the forces that try to keep them apart, the two nurture a romance, until fate catches up.
The Red Shoes (1948)
A Pressburger-Powell extravaganza, it follows a dancer (Moira Shearer), who is on the brink of becoming a prima ballerina, and the composer of her latest project. Not unlike Moulin Rouge!, it is a brashly colorful sensory overload with a doomed romance at its center. While the plot can meander at times, the final performance is stunning.
Meaghan Walsh Gerard has been writing about films (especially classic ones) and books (especially gothic ones) for more than ten years on her site. She is obsessed with the art of storytelling and holds a master’s degree in cinema studies. Meaghan has been a DVD Netflix member since 2003. Follow Meaghan at mwgerard.com, on Twitter @mwgerard, or Facebook and Instagram.