From thwarted love in Casablanca to awkward listening in Before Sunrise and bicycle jinks in Butch Cassidy, our writers pick their most passionate scenes for Valentine’s Day
Who among us didn’t fall for Captain Von Trapp from the moment he sang Eidelweiss? Maria, on the verge of flunking out of nun school, didn’t stand a chance. The PG sexual tension then becomes unbearable during a ländler; the captain can’t take his eyes off Maria, forcing her to blush so hard that she legs it back to the abbey. But after the reverend mother talks sense into her (choose the captain, not God, duh!) the pair reunite and finally confess their love in a gazebo, before singing in the moonlight: “Here you are standing there loving me, whether or not you should”. Not even the revelation that the actors were told off for laughing so much during filming can dim the romance – it only adds to the adolescent thrill of it all. And the one tiny, goose-pimply moment that tops it off is Von Trapp whispering: “Oh, my love.” Hollie Richardson
