Despite Hollywood's penchant for happy endings, many iconic love stories conclude with lovers separated or dead, their bittersweet paradox etched in memory.
Although it's often said that in order to succeed, a Hollywood film has to have a happy ending, when you look at the most memorable love stories it's astonishing how many of them end with the separation or death of one or both lovers. Often, the paradox underlying the film helps explain why they stick in our memories.