The distance between people is symbolized by unmet gazes. 20 movies about "love is gaze"

"escape"

Love/Humanity

The way women and men exchange glances in Hawks' films

In Hawks' films, women and men always exchange glances at the same height. There are almost no scenes in which a woman is looked down upon by a man and throws herself at him; rather, it is the woman who looks down on the man and makes him submit. In this film, we can fully enjoy Lauren Bacall looking down on Humphrey Bogart and making him love her.

"The Crown of Flesh"

love affair

Tragic lovers dancing without taking their eyes off each other

In late 19th century Paris, prostitute Marie and carpenter Manda meet at a riverside cafe. Their love eventually ends in tragedy, but the woman's determination to watch her beloved's execution, intent on burning the final moments into her memory, is overwhelming. The highlight is the dance scene in which she spins around without ever taking her eyes off her partner.

『Elle』

love affair

A middle-aged man's obsessive love for a woman's legs

Countless legs line the church pews. A naive middle-aged man is captivated by the legs of a young woman who stands out among them. He pursues her relentlessly and proposes marriage, but this is the beginning of a tragedy. This is a typical Buñuel story of obsessive love that depicts in full detail the horror of love born from a one-sided gaze.

"The Light of the Heart"

love affair

A melodrama of love and self-sacrifice woven by sight

Wanting to help a woman who has become blind due to his own negligence, a man stays close to her while concealing his true identity. Before long, something that could be called love begins to grow between the two. This story of love and self-sacrifice that blossoms between assailant and victim is reminiscent of Mikio Naruse 's "Tsururegumo." A melodrama woven around eyesight.

"The Wife Confesses"

Marital love/romance

Wakao Fumiko's intense gaze terrifies her loved ones

A wife is accused of killing her husband while they were climbing a mountain. The man who secretly loves her continues to believe in her innocence, but one day doubts begin to grow in his heart. Did the woman really kill her husband? Was it just an accident? Wakao Fumiko's intense gaze terrifies the man, and everything falls apart.

"Angel Guts: Red Classroom"

love affair

The image of the woman in the film is burned into the man's eyes

The protagonist, who happens to see a pornographic film and is captivated by the horrific performance of a woman being assaulted by several men, sets out to find her. Little does he know that the scene burned into his memory is a horrifying image of an actual rape scene. The horrific and tragic fates of these two people are destined to never intersect.

Contract Killer

Humanity/Love

The moment he met her eyes, he regained his will to live.

A man who has given up hope in life hires a hitman to kill him. However, the moment he falls in love at first sight with a flower girl in a cafe, he regains his will to live, and a desperate escape from the hitman begins. The moment Jean-Pierre Léaud falls in love at first sight is simply beautiful, and it makes the viewer happy too.

"Yang Yang Summer Memories"

Love/Humanity

To look at and capture something that cannot be seen with one's own eyes

Young Yang Yang always takes photos of the backs of people and animals. As he says, "People can't see their own backs," so no one can see their true selves. And that's exactly why we need movies. To recognize ourselves in the light reflected in them and to face this reality.

50 First Kisses

love affair

Love that lets you look at yourself anew every day and discover new things

She suffers from memory loss and can only remember things for a day, and even forgets the man she fell passionately in love with after just one night. But the man who refuses to give up on her love for her creates a new encounter every day. In other words, it is also a way of staging how he will appear to her when she wakes up each morning.

"Deja Vu"

love affair

A film that captures the beautiful moment when a gaze transforms reality

An investigator investigates the ferry bombing using surveillance footage from the past few days developed by the FBI. However, the moment he makes eye contact with the victim on the screen, he learns a shocking truth: the footage is not from the past, but from the present. A glance can transform reality. This film captures that moment.

"kiss"

love affair

His one and only face, found on the TV screen

Kyoko, a lonely woman who has always been treated unfairly in society, is transfixed by the face of a murderer on television news footage. This man is her true sympathizer, and she is the only one who can understand him. Her thoughts are unstoppable. This is a fantastic love story, with Koike Eiko's shining eyes that you will never forget.

"In the Town Where Sylvia Lives"

love affair

The gaze of a man wandering the streets chasing a woman

A man observing the faces of women passing by on the street happens to spot Silvia, a woman he once knew. He follows her around the city. Unable to forget the face of a certain woman, the man's love for her leads to a disappointing conclusion, but the wandering of his gaze is exquisitely beautiful.

"Four Days with Anna"

love affair

Peeping in the name of love and its consequences

He spends four days staring at his neighbor, Anna. There are many films that deal with voyeurism, but few have a protagonist so faithful to his desire to simply watch his beloved. He doesn't want her to look at him, he just wants to be the one to watch her. Where will this strange love lead?

"Dancing with Recollections"

Parent-child love/romance

A sad exchange of glances with the mother of a deceased lover

After losing his gay lover Kai, Richard tries to take care of his lover's mother in his place. However, Kai's mother, unaware that her son was gay, only looks at him suspiciously. Unable to communicate with each other through words or feelings, the two men's eyes, filled with sadness over the loss of a loved one and happy memories, cross paths.

"Carol"

love affair

The perfect moment of love at first sight when two women's eyes meet

Every time I see the scene in the department store where the two women meet, I want to scream that it's the exact moment of love at first sight. The few seconds before their eyes meet feel like an eternity. She gazes, and the man who notices her gaze suddenly looks up. This is what it means to capture the beginning of love.

"Marianne"

Parent-child love/romance

The moment two lovers look at each other, tragedy strikes

A wife suspected of being a double agent and a husband struggling to believe her. The couple fail to make eye contact at crucial moments, but in a flashback they finally look each other squarely in the eye, and tragedy strikes. The woman's wish for her daughter is sad and heartbreaking: "My love, I want you to see with your own eyes the scenery I was unable to see."

"Awake or Asleep"

love affair

A love story that begins with love at first sight and ends with a mismatch of gazes

Mugi turns around at the sound of firecrackers, meets Asako's eyes, and they kiss. The love that began between them comes to an abrupt end, and Asako meets Ryohei again, who looks very similar to Mugi. At the end, the film shows the lovers looking in different directions, but is it really a drama of shared glances, or the other way around?

"Your Bird Can Sing"

love affair

A youth drama about three people whose gazes constantly change fluidly

The beginning of their love was more a physical contact than a glance, but from there, the two men and one woman's coming-of-age drama unfolds, and it's moving to see how their gazes change in a flowing way. The final scene, in which "I," who has been avoiding facing her head-on, finally looks straight at Sachiko, is simply the best.

"Happy Lazarus"

humanity

A holy gaze filled with compassion that illuminates a cruel reality

A small village in the Italian mountains. The villagers, who have been deceived by the Marquise and exploited for years, learn the truth and move to the city, only to find their lives become even more miserable. The holy fool, Lazarus, gazes intently at this cruel reality. What can we find in his compassionate gaze?

"Portrait of a Lady on Fire"

love affair

A love story that reverses an unbalanced relationship centered around gazes

The viewer and the viewed. Céline Sciamma brilliantly reverses the asymmetrical gaze that has traditionally existed between artist and model. The desires of the two women to look at her and to be looked at back intersect, creating a story of lovers with equal gazes.