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10. The Dark Knight
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) were childhood friends and there'd always been a deep mutual attraction between them. But Bruce's dark secret, that he is in fact the caped crusader Batman, has always kept them apart. It wasn't until Rachel fell in love with hotshot Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) that Bruce came to realise just how much Rachel meant to him – though it came too late…
9. Phantom of the Opera
Gothic and sumptuously produced, the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical was brought to a wider screen audience with Emmy Rossum in the role of Christine, the soprano whose ethereal voice awoke the passions of the reclusive Phantom, played by Gerard Butler. But Christine is understandably wary of the Phantom, who lives in his watery lair beneath the opera house and rejects the world around him. so who can blame her for following her heart and choosing the dashing Raoul the Vicomte de Chagny (Patrick Wilson)?
8. Moulin Rouge!
Has there ever been a movie colourful, more heartbreaking story of a love that was just not meant to be? Celebrated courtesan Satine falls for broke poet Christian, but she has been promised to the wealthy Duke of Monroth who is bank-rolling their new show at the Moulin Rouge! And he would rather keep his latest purchase all to himself. But love proves stronger than influence as Satine and Christian continue to fall deeper in love with the Duke as an unwitting witness to their romance.
7. The English Patient
Colin Firth plays a familiar role, that of a perfectly handsome man whose wife would rather be with someone else. Katherine Clifton, his regal, beautiful wife (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) falls for Hungarian noble Count Laszlo de Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) whose archeological expeditions in North Africa are being funded by her husband Geoffrey (Firth). The heat of the desert coupled with forbidden desires results in a sensuously illicit affair that turns tragic, resulting on one of the more accomplished movie love triangles in recent years.
6. X-Men
For Wolverine, Jean Grey is the woman that got away. They had both been harbouring secret feelings for one another for many years, but Wolverine's absence from the X-Men brought Jean closer to Scott Summers (Cyclops). When Wolverine returns to the X-Men, Jean and Scott are engaged and the tension between the two alpha males became a recurring feature of first the three X-Men movies.
5. The Graduate
Mrs Robinson, possibly modern cinema's first MILF, caught young Benjamin Braddock's eye and then his virginity during a heady summer of sex in the suburbs. But it turns out that the woman Benjamin has lost his heart to is Mrs Robinson's beautiful daughter Elaine. She is someone closer to his own age, with whom he can share his fears about becoming an adult. But there is that nasty secret of his affair with her mother that could come between them…
4. First Knight
The Arthurian legend is filled with tales of heroism and adventure – though most will remember the role one of Arthur's esteemed knights, Lancelot, had in his marriage to the lady Guinevere. Plagued by guilt over his feelings for his queen, Lancelot announces his departure from Camelot, but Guinevere, who had remained true to her husband, could not resist the chance to share one kiss with the dashing knight, which her husband just happened to interrupt…
3. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The feisty, impetuous and possibly insane María Elena descends into the middle of her ex-husband Juan Antonio's domestic bliss with American tourist Cristina, and systematically tears them apart by simply being her manically creative self. The attraction between the ex-lovers becomes all too clear to Cristina, and discovers that she can't resist María Elena's primal magnetism either – a triangle that soon becomes a threesome.
2. The Twilight Saga
Ah, the age-old vampires vs werewolves war gets a touch dramatic and doom-laden in this dark romance. Bella Swan has sworn her heart to vampire Edward Cullen, but to do this will mean sacrificing her life. Jacob, who accepts his destiny as a werewolf, offers Bella an alternative destiny. Who will ultimately win her heart? The saga continues…
1. The Notebook
It's easy to overlook the triangle within the epic tale that is Noah and Allie's timeless love story, immortalized by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. After caving in to her parents' wishes and breaking up with Noah, the young Allie becomes a nurse during World War 2 and falls for wounded soldier Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden). They are engaged to be married by the time that Allie returns to Charleston on a visit and invariably falls for Noah all over again.
* Let us know which note-worthy movie love triangles we overlooked.
