International Kissing Day 2018: The best movie smooches of all time

Movie romances can thrill, move us to tears and even shape our very understanding of love and relationships in the modern world.

With International Kissing Day upon us, what better time to celebrate some of film’s most enduring love stories and relive some of the most iconic kisses ever put to film?

From Gone With the Wind to Notting Hill, these are the best movie kisses of all time, in no particular order.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four weddings and a funeral still. Taken from IMDB

“Is it raining? I hadn’t noticed.”

Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell’s kiss in the climactic Notting Hill sequence is an all-time classic romcom moment which even the typically shoddy London weather couldn’t ruin.

Spider Man

Kiss off: Kirsten and co-star Tobey Maguire's famous on-screen kiss in Spider-Man

This famous moment from Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie set audiences’ spidey senses tingling and highlighted a tender side to the web-slinging Marvel superhero.

Romeo + Juliet

Director Baz Luhrmann mixed spectacle with sincerity in his much-loved Shakespeare adaptation and the star-crossed lovers’ heartfelt first kiss was an appropriately tender onscreen moment.

Brokeback Mountain

The most high-profile LGBT movie kiss of recent times came in the form of a touching moment from Brokeback Mountain back in 2005, shared between Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger.

Notting Hill

The best on-screen kisses of all time

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A "surreal but nice" chance meeting between Hugh Grant’s bumbling book shop owner and Julia Roberts’ international movie star ended in a spontaneous smooch, sparking the romance at the centre of the famed romcom.

Moonlight

Moonlight still

The kiss shared between protagonist Chiron and love interest Kevin on a deserted beach in Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is an exquisite moment. It forms the emotional peak of this stunning story of sexual awakening and coming of age.

Dirty Dancing

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey delivered one of the most iconic movie romances of the 80s in Dirty Dancing and it was all sealed with a kiss.

Titanic

Jack and Rose shared plenty of kisses during their doomed travels on the Titanic but just think how many more they could have enjoyed if they’d both managed to fit on the door at the end.

Pretty Woman

Richard Gere proved himself as romcom royalty alongside Julia Roberts in 1990’s Pretty Women, bringing to life an unconventional romance for the ages

Blue is the Warmest Colour

Blue is the Warmest Colour still from IMDB

French drama Blue is the Warmest Colour has been criticised by some for pandering to the male gaze with its more graphic scenes, but the first kiss shared between Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos remains an emotional and intimate moment.

Ghost

While Ghost is mostly remembered for that pottery scene, there are plenty of tender and emotional moments in this spectral romcom from director Jerry Zucker.

Casablanca

Popperfoto/Getty Images

Of all the kisses in all the films in all the world, the moment shared between Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund is amongst the most iconic in 40s cinema.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

This classic adaptation of Truman Capote’s romantic novella captured all the magic of its source material, with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard sharing an unforgettable kiss in the rain during the film’s climax.

The Theory of Everything

The tentative love story shared between a young Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde, played by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, is sealed with a kiss in 2014’s Theory of Everything. The film is a revealing look at the life of the theoretical physicist, who died earlier this year at the age of 76.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

With Harrison Ford as Han Solo in The Emipre Strikes Back. (1980)

Sci-fi’s greatest romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia provided the gooey centre at the heart of the Star Wars movies. A classic moment from one of the biggest movie franchises of all time.

Gone with the Wind

You might not give a damn, but Clarke Gable and Vivien Leigh’s onscreen kiss set the bar high in 1939 and became the gold standard for Hollywood romances thereafter.

50 Shades of Grey

While the films may feel slightly PG compared to the raciness of the novels, the first kiss shared between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in 50 Shades of Grey was certainly a memorable moment.

Twilight

The love story at the heart of Twilight captivated a generation of young adult fiction fans and the film certainly captured the awkward yet affectionate romance of Stephenie Meyer’s novels.

The Notebook

Romantic: Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as Noah and Allie in the film

What is it about kissing in the rain that romcoms love so much? This moment was the culmination of the passionate on-screen romance in The Notebook that helped turned Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams into household names.

Back to the Future

Marty McFly is saved when his mother and father kiss during the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, which remains one of the most iconic moments in 80s cinema.

Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook still

Jennifer Lawrence made the step up from Hunger Games starlet to Oscar contender with her performance alongside Bradley Cooper in 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, which saw the pair bring to life a troubled but affectionate love story.

West Side Story

Film: West Side Story (1961) with Natalie Wood as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony.

Love transcends convention in classic musical West Side Story, where forbidden romance prospers between members of rival gangs. The kiss at the end of a heartbreaking performance of Somewhere encapsulates the aching affection Tony and Maria share for one another.

My Girl

The innocent kiss shared by childhood friends Vada (Anna Chlumsky) and Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin) is one of the most touching scenes in tragic coming of age drama My Girl, which broke audiences’ hearts back in 1991.

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