Toastmasters International -A Reel Celebration of Love

Illustration of Paul Sterman sitting at a big typewriter

My dad’s favorite movie was Casablanca. He always smiled when he talked about the iconic ending of that 1942 film—the foggy scene at the airport where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman gaze intently into each other’s eyes.

When it comes to speeches on celluloid, you can’t beat Bogie’s passionate words about love, loyalty, and fighting Nazis, as he exhorts Bergman’s character, Ilsa, to join her husband on a plane bound for Lisbon and freedom.

The lines he delivers to the radiant Swedish actress have become part of film legend. “We’ll always have Paris.” “The problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” And that heart-melter at the end: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

This month’s Valentine’s Day holiday got me thinking: What are some other well-known film speeches centered around love?

When I say “speech,” I’m referring more to a monologue, or a lengthy passage within a zesty chunk of dialogue. It would be hard to stick a 5-7-minute presentation into a fast-moving rom-com. Instead, think Tom Cruise making his romantic living-room pitch to Renée Zellweger in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, the scene culminating with his character’s famous “You complete me” line—and her equally famed response, “You had me at hello.”

Or the angsty emotion Julia Stiles brings to her reading of a poem in 10 Things I Hate About You. Her character, Kat, wrote it about her classmate Patrick, played by Heath Ledger. “I hate it when you’re not around and the fact that you didn’t call/But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you/Not even close/Not even a little bit/Not even at all.”

As with any speech, when emoting about love there is power in specifics. Look at the details Billy Crystal reels off to Meg Ryan when his character confesses he’s in love with her at the end of When Harry Met Sally:

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 a 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.

I asked Past International President Morag Mathieson, DTM, for examples of the non-North American variety. Mathieson grew up in Scotland and now resides in Möhrendorf, Bavaria, Germany. She points to something different: an amusing exchange between buddies Gregory and Steve in Gregory’s Girl, a 1981 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy.

In the film, the two characters are talking about falling in love. Asked when he fell in love, Gregory answers, “‘Bout half an hour ago. It’s great. I feel restless and I’m dizzy. ... Bet I don’t get any sleep tonight.”

To which Steve replies, “That sounds more like indigestion.”

What makes a love-themed monologue tug effectively at the heartstrings? Leah Aldridge, a film professor in Southern California, sums it up quite nicely. Such a speech works, she told me, when the object of the speaker’s words “feels precious, special, seen, valued, appreciated, adored; and it is communicated and expressed with sincerity.”

Gifted actors, from Denzel Washington to Meryl Streep to Michelle Yeoh, put their own spin on a film speech. Like strong public speakers, they wring expressiveness out of a line, hit their message hard, and engage their audience. Of course, they’re also aided by cinematic conventions like soft lighting, beautiful scenery (and people), swelling music, and savvy screenwriting.

There are so many more winning romantic monologues onscreen than I have the room to mention. What are some of your favorites, and why? Write me and let me know.

Here’s looking at you, Toastmasters.