We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Film series: Ain’t there anyone here for love? 23 February – 28 April 2013

By Robert Herbert, curator, film (until June 2017)
Two shirtless people with short black hair take a selfie with a film camera.

Still from Happy together, 1997

The changing representations of love in cinema

Ain’t there anyone here for love? tells a brief history of 20th-century society by examining how cultural changes, social upheaval and shifting ideologies are reflected in the way the movies depict love.

Casablanca’s worn-torn lovers not only mirror the forced separation experienced by millions, but also the general dislocation and disruption caused by global conflict. The love-hate relationship at the heart of Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? reflects the emerging disillusionment of ‘60s America. And the doomed love affair at the core of Fear eats the soul is a direct response to a general anxiety surrounding large-scale immigration in the 1970s.

Popping up occasionally during the series, which screens at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 23 February to 28 April 2013, will be one of the earliest films ever shown commercially to the public.

In 1896 The kiss made cinema history as the first to depict a couple kissing on screen. Theatrical performers May Irwin and John C Rice snuggled together cheek-to-cheek, and playfully and affectionately kissed. Causing uproar and sensation wherever it was projected, this controversial 20-second film was one of many film experiments made in the famous Edison laboratory.

Films

  • 23 February – The Philadelphia story (director George Cukor, US, 1940, 35mm)

  • 20, 24 February – Casablanca (director Michael Curtiz, US, 1942, 35mm)

  • 27 February, 3 March – A streetcar named Desire (director Elia Kazan, US, 1951, 35mm)

  • 9 March – The African Queen (director John Huston, US, 1951, 35mm)

  • 6, 10 March – Gentlemen prefer blondes (director Howard Hawkes, US, 1953, 35mm)

  • 16 March – Hiroshima, mon amour (director Alain Resnais, France, 1959, 35mm)

  • 13, 17 March – Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? (director Mike Nichols, US, 1966, 35mm)

  • 20, 24 March – The honeymoon killers (director Leonard Kastle, US, 1969, 35mm)

  • 30 March – Les amants du Pont-Neuf (director Leos Carax, France, 1991, 35mm)

  • 27, 31 March – Badlands (director Terence Malick, US, 1974, 35mm)

  • 6 April – Dog day afternoon (director Sidney Lumet, US, 1975, 35mm)

  • 3, 7 April – Fear eats the soul (director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany, 1973, 35mm)

  • 13 April – Happy together (director Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1997, 35mm)

  • 10, 14 April – A short film about love (director Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland, 1988, 35mm)

  • 17, 21 April – Y tu mamá también (director Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico, 2001, 35mm)

  • 24, 28 April – Two lovers (director James Gray, US, 2008, 35mm)

Three people looking surprised. Two are wearing suits and one is wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

Still from The Philadelphia story, 1940

A man and a woman look at one another.

Still from Casablanca, 1942

A close-up of two people embracing one another.

Still from A streetcar named Desire, 1951

A woman with light skin and blong hair wearing pearls and pink gloves.

Still from Gentlemen prefer blondes, 1953

A person cradles another person in the crook of their elbow.

Still from Hiroshima, mon amour, 1959

Two people gaze at each other. In the background is a person reading a book.

Still from Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966

Two people seated in the front of a car. The driver wears a hat and holds a cigarette.

Still from The honeymoon killers, 1969

Two people embrace each other.

Still from Les amants du Pont-Neuf, 1991 

Two people gaze at each other.

Still from Badlands, 1974

A person with light skin and short dark hair looks in front of them. Behind them is a person holding a rifle.

Still from Dog day afternoon, 1975

A man with black hair and medium brown skin holds the hands of a woman with auburn hair and light skin.

Still from Fear eats the soul, 1973

Two shirtless people with short black hair take a selfie with a film camera.

Still from Happy together, 1997

Three people sitting in a car smiling.

Still from Y tu mamá también, 2001

A person with short brown hair and light skin holds themselves in their thick coat as they walk down a street at night.

Still from Two lovers, 2008