It is no accident that one of the most celebrated love stories of all time is, in essence, a tragedy. In Baz Luhrmann’s striking appropriation, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), the characters’ enchanting meeting is fateful, for these are ‘star-cross’d lovers’. The absorbing documentary Loved Up – The Dream of Love (2005), opens with the simplest of questions – ‘What is Love?’ – and provides contrasting, often heartbreaking, perspectives in response.

On screen, love is often most captivating when it is a struggle. The refreshingly original Look Both Ways (2005) is a film about love in the midst of grief. Additionally, finding out that your boyfriend is actually a merman may not be the most common of obstacles to love, but this poignant scene from the eclectic television series Round the Twist (1992) is certainly worth a look.

The ‘cooling off’ scene in the romantic-comedy short film Turn Around (2002), featuring an all-Indigenous cast, deftly explores the tension and ambiguities of the characters’ relationship. On the other hand, in Kath and Kim (2002), there is no doubt that this ‘foxy lady’ and ‘big hunk o’ spunk’ were made for each other.

The delightful feature The Picture Show Man (1977) reveals the love at first sight between the piano-tuning philanderer Freddy and the mesmerising young widow, played by Jeanie Drynan. Finally, a concert pianist embarks on the ultimate ‘labour of love,’ diving for pearls in the Torres Strait in Lovers and Luggers (1937).