Before Sunrise (1995)

Getting Acquainted Kisses

In Richard Linklater's sweet romantic drama set over a 24-hour period, two young tourists on a train bound for Paris happened to meet:

• American Jesse (Ethan Hawke), during his last day in Europe
• French Celine (Julie Delpy)

They disembarked together in Vienna, as they became better acquainted through lengthy existential ruminations on life. While they wandered around the Austrian capital into the night and further into the next day, they often kissed each other.

Their first kiss was at sunset as they rode on the Viennese Ferris wheel the Riesenrad [the location of the famous "cuckoo clock" speech and scene in The Third Man (1949)] when she asked: "Are you trying to say you want to kiss me?" When he nodded, she kissed and hugged him closely and tenderly rested her head on his shoulder.

In the film's concluding, prolonged heartbreaking goodbye scene at the train station in the morning, they hastily parted as he boarded from the platform - with only a few final kisses and embraces:

Celine: "OK, I guess this is it, no? (They held hands) ...Have a great life. Have fun with everything you're gonna do! Work hard."

They vowed to see each other again in exactly six months at the same location (six months from the previous night at 6 pm, tracking from June 16th to December), without writing or calling in the interim:

Jesse: "Listen. Listen. You know all this bulls--t we're talking about, about not seeing each other again? I don't want to do that..."
Celine: "Maybe, maybe we should meet here, in five years or something."
Jesse: "Alright, alright. Five years. (Disapprovingly) Five years? That's a long time."
Celine: "Yes. It's awful. It's like a sociological experiment. How about one year?"
Jesse: "One year. Alright, alright."
Celine: "One year."
Jesse: "How about six months?"

Their final exchange was short and sweet:

- "All right, your train's gonna leave. Say goodbye."
- "Bye."
- "Goodbye."
- "Au revoir."
- "Later."

Celine boarded the train and he took a bus to the airport. Each of them reflected upon their time together, in a closing montage, as the film returned to the locations they had visited - now empty.

Casino (1995)

Repulsive Kissing!

Director Martin Scorsese's crime drama told of mobster activity and operations at the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas.

In 2003, readers of the American magazine Film voted one of its love scenes as the 'worst' ever, between:

• sexy prostitute/hustler Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone)
• violent mob hit-man/enforcer "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci)

In the scene as the two sat on a sofa, Nicky promised to take care of Ginger, and she whimpered that she would like that - and then he pushed her head down to his crotch.

[Note: The second 'worst' love scene in the poll was the one between Sean Connery and 40 years-younger Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment (1999), followed by the love dalliances between Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris (1972).]

Embrace of the Vampire (1995)

Lesbian Vampire Kisses

Director Anne Goursaud's R-rated erotic horror-thriller film brought together vampires and blatant erotic sexuality.

The main character was virginal, chaste, and repressed college freshman Charlotte Wells (Alyssa Milano). She didn't know that she was the victim of an ancient curse. A new suitor was aggressively pursuing her - a Vampire (Martin Kemp), who approached her by mysteriously appearing in her torrid, lustful dreams in the few days before her 18th birthday. She was unaware that she was the reincarnation of a Transylvanian Princess (Rebecca Ferratti), and her new pursuer was a vampire who once loved her.

To convince her to give in to his own seductive advances, the Vampire arranged for bisexual photographer Sarah (Charlotte Lewis) to also introducer Charlotte to lesbianism. During a sensual topless photo session, Sarah lightly carressed Charlotte, and kissed her face and lips.

Later, the two further explored more lesbian kissing and intimate touching.

GoldenEye (1995)

Rough, Thigh-Squeezing Kisses

The seventeenth film in the long-running Bond series of action films found Bond combating the Janus arms syndicate from using a GoldenEye satellite weapon against London to cause a global financial meltdown.

Nymphomaniacal assassinatrix Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), with black eye shadow and red lips, was competitive, sexy and deadly at the same time, known for crushing men to death with her thighs during sex. During one memorable scene, she met James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in his St. Petersburg, Russia hotel's steam bath while she was draped in only a robe. She told him: "You don't need the gun," to which he responded: "Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex."

She first roughly kissed him and then used her muscle-bound thighs as a body scissors-vice during their very physical sex bout.

She ended up crushing and squeezing Bond's ribs between her bare thighs, while enjoying the sexual sensations, and then passionately kissed him more as they slammed each other up against the wall, but she was eventually overpowered by him.

Higher Learning (1995)

Sexual "Learning" and Awakening

Director John Singleton's dramatic film, a message movie about racial tension and social integration, followed the lives of incoming freshmen at a fictional university.

The film's subplot was about sexual attraction, awakening and discovery between two members of a women's support group on campus called Students for a Non-Sexist Society:

• shy and naive Orange County Columbus University freshman and date-rape victim Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson)
• understanding lesbian student activist Taryn (Jennifer Connelly)

They kissed and then went to a dorm room where she flirted further with lesbianism.

Showgirls (1995)

A Trashy Lesbian Goodbye Kiss

Director Paul Verhoeven's NC-17 rated sexy drama followed the careers (and loves) of two competitive dancers in Las Vegas:

• 23 year-old stripper and aspiring dancer Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley)
• bisexual, trashy Stardust Hotel revue diva-showgirl star Cristal Connors (Gina Gershon)

First working at the sleazy Cheetah Club where she performed pole and lap dances, Nomi graduated to the Stardust's "Goddess" topless dance show (where she contributed her characteristically-jerky dance moves) with scores of half-naked dancers, although she had to put up with a humiliating audition and some erotic and seductive lesbian overtures from admiring Cristal to acquire the spot ("Maybe I like the way you dance. Maybe I like you"). During a lunch date, Cristal informed Nomi that they were both whores for the way they exhibited themselves naked for the money:

"You are a whore, darlin'...We all are. We take the cash, we cash the check, we show them what they wanna see...You and me, we're exactly alike."

When they practice-danced together, Cristal came onto Nomi by ripping open her blouse and touching her nipples before attempting a kiss ("You see, darling, you are a whore"), but Nomi stomped off after calling her a "bitch."

At the Stardust, a love-hate/lesbian sexual attraction developed between the two of them, while Cristal was headlining the popular dance show. To acquire the lead dancing position, Nomi impulsively pushed Cristal down a flight of stairs, injuring her badly and sending her to the hospital - and as a result, taking her place as the headliner. When visiting her, the two talked about their similar career paths, and how Cristal had always knowledgeably and manipulatively fought her way to acquiring fame and fortune:

Cristal: "There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you."

When Nomi announced she was leaving, Cristal prompted her: "Aren't you gonna come here and give me a big kiss?"

The "Big Kiss"

After Nomi let Cristal finally have a long, wet and sensual kiss, Cristal gave Nomi her black hat and bid Nomi goodbye: "Bye, darling." In the next sequence, the conclusion of the film, cowboy-hat wearing Nomi was hitch-hiking to Los Angeles, bidding Vegas goodbye.

Strange Days (1995)

"We Made It" Into the New Millennium Kiss

Director Kathryn Bigelow's realistic science-fiction story was a cyberpunk tech-noir film. It told about trade in virtual reality "clips" (sold on computer discs and played back on head-worn devices called SQUIDS or Superconducting Quantum Interference Device). They were peddled by sleazy ex-vice cop, street hustler, scam artist, and illegal clip user Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes).

Everything converged an hour before the dawn of the New Millennium in a tense and riotous downtown Los Angeles. After surmounting incredible odds and defeating corruption, Lenny finally paired up with his street-savvy friend - limousine chauffeur-security bodyguard Lornette "Macey" Mason (Angela Bassett).

He pulled her from her car and kissed her amidst the celebrations of the New Year of 2000. She had just told him:

"Hey, Lenny, we made it!"

The camera pulled back and they became lost in the crowd and confetti.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

A Kiss Between Outcasts and Nerds

Todd Solondz's painfully-realistic, uncompromising rites-of-passage black comedy was his first major independent film success.

The low-budget film told about the coming-of-age of bespectacled, geeky 11 year-old outcast Dawn Weiner (Heather Matarazzo) in a middle-class New Jersey family, who faced cruel, miserable, and isolated treatment through puberty.

In a potential rape scene, Heather was forcibly told by crass 7th grade bully Brandon (Brendan Sexton, Jr.) at her locker that he was going to rape her at 3 pm. At the time, he didn't follow through (because he didn't actually know what rape was and only wanted to show his interest in her). In the scene, however, she willingly exchanged a very awkward kiss with him.