The Love Parade: Cinema’s great­est roman­tic gestures

In cin­e­ma, ​“I love you” is used spar­ing­ly, but often inno­v­a­tive­ly by writ­ers who play on its world-shak­ing ram­i­fi­ca­tions. What does it mean to the per­son who dares speak this sanc­ti­fied phrase? And what about those on the receiv­ing end? It can be pas­sion­ate. It can be hurt­ful. It can be humor­ous. It can be laced with sor­row. It is a giv­er of life and a of death. It’s hon­esty and it’s lies. It’s plea­sure and it’s pain. It’s char­ac­ter-build­ing and embar­rass­ing. This small phrase is every­thing. Here, we present a col­lec­tion of some of the most evoca­tive ​“I love you”s in movie history.

Ter­ry: Garth told me about the show, man. I love you, man.
Wayne: Yeah, and I love you too, Ter­ry.
Ter­ry: No-no-no, I mean it, man. I love you.
Wayne: No, I‑I mean it. I love you.
Ter­ry: No you don’t, man. I love you.
Wayne: [being hugged by Ter­ry] Garth. Hey, come over here, I think Ter­ry has some­thing he wants to say to you.
Ter­ry: I love you, man.
Garth: …Thank you.

Vio­let: I love you once, I love you twice, I love you more than red beans and rice.

George: I’m the hap­pi­est per­son in the world.
Angela: The sec­ond hap­pi­est.
George: Oh, Angela, if I could only tell you how much I love you, if I could only tell you all.
Angela: Tell mama. Tell mama all.

Tiger: Per­mit me to intro­duce myself. I am Tana­ka. Please, call me Tiger.
Bond: If you’re Tana­ka, then how do you feel about me?
Tiger: [the code response] I… love you.
Bond: Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way.

Ralph Touchett: I love you but with­out hope.

Rita: It’s beau­ti­ful. I don’t know what to say.
Phil: I do. What­ev­er hap­pens tomor­row, or for the rest of my life, I’m hap­py now… because I love you.

Alvy: Love is too weak a word for what I feel – I luu­urve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two Fs, yes I have to invent, of course – I do, don’t you think I do?

Peter: [over radio] Where were you born?
June: Boston.
Peter: Mass.?
June: Yes.
Peter: That’s a place to be born, his­to­ry was made there. Are you in love with any­body? No, no don’t answer that.
June: I could love a man like you, Peter.
Peter: I love you, June. You’re life and I’m leav­ing you.

Jer­ry: Our com­pa­ny had a very big night. A very, very big night, but it wasn’t com­plete. It wasn’t near­ly close to being in the same vicin­i­ty as com­plete, because I couldn’t share it with you. I couldn’t hear your voice, or laugh about it with you. I missed my wife. We live in a cyn­i­cal world, a cyn­i­cal world, and we work in a busi­ness of tough com­peti­tors. I love you. You com­plete me…
Dorothy: Aw, shut up. Just shut up. You had me at hel­lo. You had me at hello.

Elliot: [tear­ful­ly, while look­ing down at E.T.’s plas­tic-cov­ered corpse] I’ll believe in you all my life, every­day. E.T. …I love you.

Ron­ny: Loret­ta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn’t know this either, but love don’t make things nice, it ruins every­thing. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things per­fect. The snowflakes are per­fect. The stars are per­fect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin our­selves and to break our hearts and love the wrong peo­ple and die. The sto­ry­books are bull­shit. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!

Pat: Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I’m sor­ry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck.

Paul: I love you.
Hol­ly: So what.
Paul: So what? So plen­ty! I love you, you belong to me!
Hol­ly: [tear­ful­ly] No. Peo­ple don’t belong to peo­ple.
Paul: Of course they do!
Hol­ly: I’ll nev­er let any­body put me in a cage.
Paul: I don’t want to put you in a cage, I want to love you!

[Frank is inter­ro­gat­ing Nord­berg about the source of his inci­dent, while Nord­berg is only part­ly con­scious from anes­the­sia, which Frank is incom­pe­tent­ly unaware of]
Frank: Nord­berg, it’s me, Frank. Now, who did this to you?
Det. Nord­berg: [half-con­scious­ly] I… love… you.
Frank: I love you, too, Nord­berg. Who were they?
Det. Nord­berg: [half-con­scious­ly] Ship… boat.
Frank: That’s right, Nord­berg. A boat. Now, when you’re bet­ter, we’ll go sail­ing togeth­er on a boat. We’ll take a cruise just like last year.
Det. Nord­berg: [half-con­scious­ly] No… Drugs…
Frank: Hey, Nurse! Quick! Give this man some drugs! Quick! Can’t you see he’s in pain? Give him a shot quick­ly! [nurse admin­is­ters drugs]
Det. Nord­berg: No… no… [pulls Frank towards him] Hero­in… Hero­in, Frank! Frank: Uh, Nord­berg… that’s a pret­ty tall order. You’re gonna have to give me a cou­ple of days on that one.

Har­ry: I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sand­wich. I love that you get a lit­tle crin­kle above your nose when you’re look­ing at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your per­fume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last per­son I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lone­ly, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with some­body, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as pos­si­ble.
Sal­ly: You see? That is just like you, Har­ry. You say things like that, and you make it impos­si­ble for me to hate you.

Camille: You like all of me? My mouth? My eyes? My nose? And my ears?
Paul: Yes, all of you.
Camille: Then you love me… total­ly?
Paul: Yes. Total­ly… ten­der­ly… tragically.

Rocky: Adri­an! Adri­an!
Adri­an: Rocky!
Rocky: Adri­an!
Adri­an: Rocky!
Rocky: Hey, where’s your hat?
Adri­an: I love you!
Rocky: I love you.
Adri­an: [grabs and hugs Rocky] I love you!
Rocky: [out of breath] I love you. I love you.
Adri­an: I love you!
Rocky: I love you. I love you.
Adri­an: I love you!

Rufus T Fire­fly: Here are the plans of war. They’re as valu­able as your life. And that’s putting them pret­ty cheap. Watch them like a cat watch­es her kit­tens. Have you ever had kit­tens? No, of course not, you’re too busy run­ning around play­ing bridge. Can’t you see what I’m try­ing to tell you, I love you.

Cather­ine: You said, ​“I love you,” I said, ​“Wait.” I was going to say, ​“Take me,” you said, ​“Go away.”

Veroni­ka: I fol­lowed you because I want­ed to be with you. You know what? I’d like to fuck you again. I love you and I want to fuck you again.

David: Well, I’ve just dis­cov­ered that was the best day I ever had in my whole life!
Susan: David, you don’t mean that.
David: I nev­er had a bet­ter time!
Susan: Oh! But, but, but I was there.
David: Well, that’s what made it so good.
Susan: Oh, did you real­ly have a good time?
David: Yes, I did!
Susan: Oh, that’s, but that’s won­der­ful. Do you realise what that means? That means that you must like me a lit­tle bit.
David: Susan, it’s more than that.
Susan: It is?
David: Yes, I love you, I think.
Susan: Oh, that’s won­der­ful, because I love you too! Stop rock­ing, David.

Fre­do: [Moe Greene leaves] Mike! You do not come to Las Vegas and talk to a man like Moe Greene like that!
Michael: Fre­do, you’re my old­er broth­er, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with any­one against the Fam­i­ly again. Ever.

Lit­tle Mary: Is this the ear you can’t hear on? [whis­per­ing in his bad ear]
Lit­tle Mary: George Bai­ley, I’ll love you ​’til the day I die.

Amber: [screams] Oh, I don’t want to do this any more. Hon­ey, I can’t. Let’s just? Let’s have fun now! Let’s just go and go and go, because it’s over. There’s just too many things, too many things, too many things. Too many things. Rol­ler­girl: Okay.
Amber: Let’s go walk. [sniffs]
Rol­ler­girl: I don’t want to leave this room.
Amber: [laughs] Me, either! I love you, hon­ey!
Rol­ler­girl: I love you, Mom!

Ilsa: I love you so much. And I hate this war so much. Oh, it’s a crazy world. Any­thing can hap­pen. If you shouldn’t get away, I mean, if some­thing should keep us apart, wher­ev­er they put you and wher­ev­er I’ll be, I want you to know that.

Reg­gie: Mar­riage licence? Did you say mar­riage licence?
Cruik­shank: Now don’t change the sub­ject, just give me the stamps!
Reg­gie: Oh, I love you, Adam… Alex… Peter… Bri­an… What­ev­er your name is. Oh, I love you. I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you.

Ali­cia: I’m afraid I can’t make it… They gave me pills… To sleep.
Devlin: Keep awake. Keep talk­ing… You have a coat?
Ali­cia: In the clos­et.
Devlin: Keep talk­ing… What hap­pened?
Ali­cia: Alex found out
Devlin: And the oth­ers haven’t?
Ali­cia: They’d kill him if they knew
Devlin: Are you in pain
Ali­cia: I don’t know… Say it again, it keeps me awake.
Devlin: I love you… Stand up, stand up… Come on, wake up… Talk…

[Karen sits astride Hen­ry in bed, gun point­ed at his face]
Hen­ry: What? What? I love you! I love you!

Kyle Reese: John Con­nor gave me a pic­ture of you once. I didn’t know why at the time. It was very old – torn, fad­ed. You were young like you are now. You seemed just a lit­tle sad. I used to always won­der what you were think­ing at that moment. I mem­o­rised every line, every curve… I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you; I always have.

Nina: I love you.
Jamie: I love you.
Nina: I real­ly love you.
Jamie: I real­ly, tru­ly love you.
Nina: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly love you.
Jamie: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly, deeply love you.
Nina: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly, deeply, pas­sion­ate­ly love you.
Jamie: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly, deeply, pas­sion­ate­ly, remark­ably love you.
Nina: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly, deeply, pas­sion­ate­ly, remark­ably, uhmm… deli­cious­ly love you.
Jamie: I real­ly, tru­ly, mad­ly, pas­sion­ate­ly, remark­ably, deli­cious­ly… juici­ly love you…
Nina: Deeply! Deeply! You passed on deeply, which was your word, which means that you couldn’t pos­si­bly have meant it! So you’re a fraud, that’s it! [they hug] You’re prob­a­bly a fig­ment of my imag­i­na­tion. [pause] Juicily?

Dale: Flash, Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the earth!

Hon­ey­bun­ny: I love you, Pump­kin.
Pump­kin: I love you, Hon­ey­bun­ny.
Hon­ey­bun­ny: Every­body be cool, this is a rob­bery.
Pump­kin: Any of you fuck­ing pricks move and I’ll exe­cute every moth­er­fuck­ing last one of you!

Beast: [dying] You… You came back.
Belle: Of course I came back. I couldn’t let them… Oh, this is all my fault. If only I had got­ten here soon­er.
Beast: Maybe… Maybe… it’s bet­ter… It’s bet­ter this way.
Belle: Don’t talk like that. You’ll be alright. We’re togeth­er now. Everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.
Beast: And at least… I got to see you… One last time.
[The Beast dies]
Belle: No, no! Please. Please… Please don’t leave me.
[Belle sobs]
Belle: I love you.
[The last rose petal falls.]

Anton­i­nus: I love you Spar­ta­cus, as I love my own father.
Spar­ta­cus: I love you, like my son that I’ll nev­er see. Go to sleep.

Diane: I need you. Every­thing else means noth­ing to me. If I hurt you again, I’ll die. I love you. I love you. How many more times to I have to say it? I love you. Please, I love you.

Frie­da: Please, Hans. Don’t be angry. Venus and Phroso have been so kind to me.
Hans: Please go away. I can see no one.
Frie­da: But, Hans, you tried to stop them. It was only the poi­son you want­ed. It wasn’t your fault. Don’t, don’t cry, Hans. Come to me, my Liebchen. Don’t cry. Don’t, Hans. Don’t cry. I love you. I love you.

Sam: I love you, Mol­ly. I’ve always loved you.
Mol­ly: Ditto.

Mag­gie: It’s got to be told.
Brick: But I don’t want to hear it.
Mag­gie: It’s got to be told and you nev­er let me tell it. I love you, and that’s worth fight­in’ for. Not Skip­per. Skip­per was no good.
Brick: Mag­gie!
Mag­gie: Maybe I’m no good either – nobody’s good. But Brick, Skip­per is dead! And I’m alive!
Brick: Mag­gie!
Mag­gie: Mag­gie ​‘The Cat’ is alive! I’m alive! Why are you afraid of the truth?

Leia: I love you.
Han: I know.

He: I love you.
She: You don’t.
He: I do.
She: I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you! I don’t fuck­ing believe you!

Gabriel Oak to Bathshe­ba Ever­dene: I love you more than common.

Jes­si­ca Rab­bit: Roger, dar­ling. I want you to know I love you. I’ve loved you more than any woman ever loved a rabbit.

Rhett: There’s one thing that I do know, and that’s that I love you, Scar­lett. In spite of you and me, and the whole sil­ly world going to pieces around us, I love you. Because we’re alike, bad lots both of us. Self­ish and shrew, but able to look things in the eye as we call them by their right names.

Sam Spade: All we’ve got is that maybe you love me and maybe I love you. Brigid: You know whether you love me or not.
Sam Spade: Maybe I do. I’ll have some rot­ten nights after I’ve sent you over, but that’ll pass.

Kather­ine: Tell me. I want to hear you say it.
Alexan­der: Alright, I love you.

Elle: So you’re break­ing up with me, because I’m too… blonde?
Warn­er: No. That’s not entire­ly true…
Elle: Then what? My boobs are too big?
Warn­er: Elle, no, your boobs are fine.
Elle: So when you said that you would always love me, you were just dick­ing around?
Warn­er: Oh, I love you. I, uh, just can’t mar­ry you. You have no idea the pres­sure I’m under. My fam­i­ly has five gen­er­a­tions of sen­a­tors. My broth­er is in the top three at Yale Law and he just got engaged to a Van­der­bilt for chris­sakes… Sweet­ie, pooh bear. It’s not like I have a choice here, sweet­heart.
Elle: So you’re break­ing up with me because you’re afraid your fam­i­ly won’t like me? Every­body likes me!

Short Round: Indy, I love you. Wake up, Indy! You’re my best friend! Wake up, Indy!

Fred­dy: Gee, and now you’ve made me hurt myself again! You made me break my hand com­plete­ly off this time, Tina! But I don’t care dar­ling, because I love you, and you’ve got to let me EAT YOUR BRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIINS!

Alec: I love you. I love your wide eyes, the way you smile, your shy­ness, and the way you laugh at my jokes.
Lau­ra: Please don’t…
Alec: I love you. I love you. You love me too. It’s no use pre­tend­ing it hasn’t hap­pened cause it has.
Lau­ra: Yes it has. I don’t want to pre­tend any­thing either to you or to any­one else. But from now on, I shall have to. That’s what’s wrong. Don’t you see? That’s what spoils every­thing. That’s why we must stop, here and now, talk­ing like this. We’re nei­ther of us free to love each oth­er. There’s too much in the way. There’s still time, if we con­trol our­selves and behave like sen­si­ble human beings. There’s still time.

[Annie places a block of wood between Paul’s ankles.]
Paul: Annie, what­ev­er you’re think­ing about doing, please don’t do it. Annie: Dar­ling, please trust me, it’s for the best. [She lifts the sledge­ham­mer and swings.]
Paul: Annie, please… [His left ankle snaps against the wood. A blood-cur­dling scream.]
Annie: Almost done! Just one more. [She swings again, shat­ter­ing his right ankle with the sledge­ham­mer.]
Annie: God, I love you. [Paul pass­es out.]

The Farmer: I think I love you.
Abby: What a nice thing to say.

Dan: Why are you try­ing to hurt me?
Alex: I’m not try­ing to hurt you Dan, I love you!
Dan: You what?
Alex: I love you!
Dan: You don’t even know me.
Alex: How can you say that?

Kip: Mrs Bon­ner, I love you. I love lots of girls and ladies and women, and so on, but you’re the only one I know why I love. And do you know why? Because you live right across the hall from me. You’re mighty attrac­tive in every sin­gle way, Mrs Bon­ner, but I’d prob­a­bly love any­one who lived right across the hall from me. It’s so con­ve­nient. Is there any­thing worse than that awful tak­ing a girl home and that long trek back alone? Want to trade kiss­es? That’s equal.

[The record spins, Pinkie’s voice sounds from beyond the grave]
Pinkie [on record]: You want­ed a record­ing of my voice, well here it is. What you want me to say is ​‘I love you’… [the record, scratched when he tried to destroy it, keeps skip­ping, repeat­ing over and over] I love you… I love you… I love you… I love you…

Clemen­tine: Please, John. You can’t send me away like this. You can’t run away from me any more than you can run away from your­self. Now I know why you don’t care whether you live or die, why you tried to get your­self killed. Well, I’ve heard all about you, John and you’re wrong, so wrong. You have no right to destroy your­self. You have a world of friends back home who love you, John. And I love you.

Wal­ter: Look, Annie… I love you. But let’s leave that out of this. I don’t want to be some­one that you’re set­tling for. I don’t want to be some­one that any­one set­tles for. Mar­riage is hard enough with­out bring­ing such low expec­ta­tions into it, isn’t it?

Diana: Have I ever told you I love you?
David: No. Diana: I do.
David: Still?
Diana: Always.

Ray: Val? Val? I’m a mug… I’m a cunt… You know what I’m like… I love ya… I love ya… Nah, nah… I’m a mug and a cunt… I’ve always been a cunt, you know I’ve always been a cunt… Hold it… Hold up… I ain’t drink­ing, nah, I ain’t on it… Babe, I promise ya I’m not on it… Cunt… Please, just lis­ten to me, will ya lis­ten to me… I’ve got a lit­tle boy I love to bits… I come at ya cos I love ya, bitch, and you push me… You fuck­ing push me… You took a lib­er­ty with me… you should know how far to go with me… You been with me that fuckin’ long, you should know… am I wrong? Am I fuck­ing wrong?

Saman­tha: It’s like I’m read­ing a book… and it’s a book I deeply love. But I’m read­ing it slow­ly now. So the words are real­ly far apart and the spaces between the words are almost infi­nite. I can still feel you… and the words of our sto­ry… but it’s in this end­less space between the words that I’m find­ing myself now. It’s a place that’s not of the phys­i­cal world. It’s where every­thing else is that I didn’t even know exist­ed. I love you so much. But this is where I am now. And this is who I am now. And I need you to let me go. As much as I want to, I can’t live in your book any more.

Alice Har­ford: I love you and you know there is some­thing very impor­tant we need to do as soon as pos­si­ble.
Dr. Bill Har­ford: What’s that?
Alice Har­ford: Fuck.

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