What makes a great movie? Is it the plot? The musical scoring? The actors’ portrayals? Or is it the visuals? We know, we know, it’s all of the above! But we can’t deny the fact that what catches our eyes first, is what we catch first with our eyes. Today, we’re featuring the top 8 movies that used perfect backyards and gardens as backdrops to heartwarming and jaw-dropping scenes. We list them down here, in no particular order (because we admittedly love them all).
The Secret Garden (1993)
Easily one of the most magical and memorable moments in this film is when the young orphan Mary Lennox (played by Kate Maberly) finds a way into an abandoned garden inside her uncle’s estate. This is where she’s able to come to terms with her loss over the death of her parents and she helps to fix the rift between her uncle and his son.
Notting Hill (1999)
Admit it, we all swooned and sighed when Ronan Keating started singing in the background as Anna Scott (played by Julia Roberts) kisses Will Thacker (played by Hugh Grant) right after they break into a communal garden on their way home from a dinner party. That communal garden is actually Rosemead Gardens of Elgin Crescent.
Will seems initially unimpressed and goes on to ask, “Now what in the world in this garden could make that ordeal worthwhile?” Of course, if you’ve seen the film you would know that Anna answers his question with a kiss, to which his only reply was, “Nice garden.” We can’t agree more Will, we can’t agree more.
Pride and Prejudice (2005)
This is the garden where Darcy (played by Matthew Macfadyen) first proposes to Elizabeth (played by Keira Knightley) in the 2005 adaptation of the movie Pride and Prejudice. This well-known scene was filmed at the lovely garden of Stourhead House in Wiltshire. He pops the question just as they gather around from a storm on the Temple of Apollo, while she tries to make her escape over the Palladian bridge.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Easily the most lip-smacking garden depicted on film, sweetmaker Willy Wonka’s (played by Johnny Depp) garden has all the sugary stuff abundant in his abode. From chocolate rivers to fruit candy bearing trees, the animated film was able to take its audience and bring them into a world where everything seems perfect and available for everyone to enjoy. Since the film doesn’t have a single natural element in it, we’re guessing the grass is fake and everything else, but we really can’t care less. We still think this 2005 musical fantasy comedy film is confectionary heaven that viewers will timelessly enjoy.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
The garden used in Pan’s Labyrinth is beautiful in a dark way. The story begins with a young girl named Ofelia (played by Ivana Baquero) wandering out of her stepfather’s house to find a sinister looking, overgrown labyrinth. This is where she meets a faun who gives her three difficult tasks to fulfill before the rise of the full moon.
Kill Bill, Volume I (2003)
The first installment of this saga ends with Quentin Tarantino’s revenge-seeking assassin (played by Uma Thurman) engaging in a memorable fight to the death with O-Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu). Despite all the display of violence in the film, we couldn’t help but marvel at the perfectly manicured Japanese-themed garden covered in ivory white snow. We pretty much cringed a lot to get to this part of the film so if you have a weak stomach like us, we advise you to move on and keep looking down.
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
You cannot have “Somewhere over the rainbow” play out loud in full-blown jazz fashion and not start smiling like an idiot. In this feel-good romantic comedy, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters finally get their happy ending in the middle of a beautiful display of flowers right at 91st Street Garden, in New York’s Riverside Park.
We absolutely adore how he calls her by her chat name and says, “Don't cry, Shopgirl. Don't cry.” But we already are Tom, and there’s no turning back.
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sound of Music is a classic that anybody can enjoy at any age. Here, Maria (played by Julie Andrews) and the captain finally confess their feelings for each other in this picturesque garden scene. The same gazebo featured was also used by the captain’s daughter Liesel and her young lover while performing the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” much earlier in the movie.
We love how these films were able to pay attention and utilize what seemed to be unnoticeable elements in the background, such as the backyards and gardens we featured today. It’s not always easy to find the beauty behind the characters, the focus of any show, but truth be told the aforementioned films would not be the same without them.
We hope you liked the movies (and the beautiful gardens and backyards) we featured in this post. If you want to read more similar content, you may click here.
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