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Monday, January 28, 2008

Christina Dodd Does BEST MOVIE KISSES


There is a lot of on-screen sex. Bare rears pumping, shots of boobs and torsos, legs intertwined, blah, blah. My reactions range anywhere from, “Ick, gross,” to, “Wow, that’s sexy,” to, “Hahahahaha!” Because sex, while a lot of fun in the doing, has the potential to be highly comedic.

But for real heat, nothing works like a well-done on-screen kiss. And by well-done, I mean the kind of kiss that quivers on the edge of erotica without ever going any farther than four lips meeting for the exchange of souls.

Have you seen the newest PBS version of JANE EYRE with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens? Do you remember the scene after Jane saves Mr. Rochester from the fire in his bed? They stand in silhouette against the firelight. He wraps a blanket around her shoulders. And they don’t kiss … they look at each other.

Right there on the couch, I froze, unable to move, my coke halfway to my mouth, my eyes straining, while passion smolders between them. What makes it better is — she doesn’t know what is happening, she doesn’t know what to do — and he does. And he’s right there. He could seduce her. He wants to so badly, I could taste it. And he restrains himself.

If I had spilled my drink into my lap, steam would have risen.

Later, there was more, when he was trying to convince her to stay with him, but that one scene in silhouette is seared onto my eyeballs. Sexual tension is not about heaving bottoms. It’s about one man and one woman yearning for one thing and one thing only — each other.

So in no particular order, here’s my very incomplete list of the best movie kisses.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA At the end when she’s trying to get away to go with Raoul and she plants a good one on the Phantom and only one thought runs through the mind of every woman watching. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Gerard Butler? You’re leaving Gerard Butler for pretty boy RAOUL? Have you lost your feeble grasp on reality? So THE PHANTOM’S face is a little messed up! All cats are gray in the dark!

DON JUAN DE MARCO Early on, there is this scene with a woman in a restaurant. She’s obviously waiting for a man who doesn’t value her as he should, and Johnny Depp (dressed as Don Juan de Marco in a cape and a mask), sits down at her table. He kisses her fingers one by one while saying, “These women... have fingers, with the same sensitivities as their legs. The fingertips have the same feelings as their feet, and when you touch their knuckles, it is like passing your hands along their knees. And this, tender, fleshy part of the finger, is the same as brushing your hands along their thighs. And... finally...”

One word. Wowsa.


LAST OF THE MOHICANS DA! DA DA DAH DAH! DAH DAH DAH DAH! A hot kiss, a great theme, and a fabulous line delivered by an intense Daniel Day-Lewis.
“What are you looking at, sir?”
“I’m looking at you, miss.”

The kiss at the end of A&E’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — okay, it’s barely even a real kiss, but the lead-up is six hours of Colin Firth brooding over Miss Elizabeth Bennett. Talk about a build-up of sexual tension that can only be released by … one … thing!

Oh man, let’s never forget that moment on the piano in PRETTY WOMAN.

And last but not least, in THE ILLUSIONIST, Edward Norton rejects Jessica Biel and at the same time, he’s kissing her because he can’t control himself. I watched that part of the DVD so many times I may have melted the plastic. For sure, I melted something.

What movie kisses have been so hot that you melted in your chair? What almost-kisses seared the scene onto your eyeballs? What do you think makes the difference between a kiss that makes you toss popcorn into the air and try to catch it in your mouth and one that makes you buy the DVD just so you can run it over and over and
over …?

Christina
http://www.christinadodd.com/

10 comments:

Marg said...

The last scene of North and South, the BBC Mini series. She kisses his hand and her passion is just palpable, and then they kiss for real and my knees go wobbly and my spine tingles.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Oh man, you've listed some goodies. *fanning my face here**

There's a really good miniseries--I think it's a miniseries--called Falling for a Dancer. There's a scene were the heroine is crying over the grave of her step-daughter and the hero is there trying to comfort her. Oh man, there's no kiss--but there's some BIG TIME sexual tension going on. Rent it!

Donna Alward said...

Oh there are so many!

One kiss I loved was on Sci Fi's new Battlestar Galactica. Lee kisses Kara as a welcome and then they pull apart and suddenly everything hits them about what they've done...and the fact that they've done it in front of EVERYONE.

And in the new P&P with Keira and Matthew McFadyen...the scene in the rain where they are arguing and then they almost kiss and don't...that suspended moment is just fantastic.

Karen H said...

Well, I don't know that I can add anything to what has already been listed, but I definately have added some 'must get' films to my Netflix queue.

Lois said...

Totally agree on that first one, if I may say. . . as does the guy in my icon. ;)

Lois

Estella said...

I also agree on the first one.

Nathalie said...

I agree with Marg... the sensuality is not blatant, but subtle. I remember loving Breakfast at Tiffany's and watching it so many times at the end!

Lily said...

I totally agree with the Phantom of the Opera... a kiss that stirs a feeling, that evoques a memory... those are the ones I want to replay :)

Pat Cochran said...

My son,the award-winning playwright,
and I, collaborated on this response.
He agrees with you on Don Juan De Marco. He says it is in great favor
with women he knows. I'm somewhat
old-school and I love several scenes
from Pretty Woman. I guess it is a
generational thing!!

Pat Cochran

Donna Alward said...

One thing I absolutely adore...when a hero kisses a heroine and holds her face in his hands. When he cups it like a chalice and touches his lips to hers....I'm a goner.

This was a great topic!