MovieChat Forums > The English Patient (1996) Discussion > The six types of love all in this movie

The six types of love all in this movie

posted 13 years ago by Maaaja
5 replies | jump to latest

Lee’s 6 Styles of Loving

Three primary styles:
1. Eros – Loving an ideal person - Katharine and Almasy
2. Ludos – Love as a game - Hana and Kip
3. Storge – Love as friendship - this is how Geoffrey represents their marriage.

Three secondary styles:
1. Mania (Eros + Ludos) – Obsessive love - Katharine & Almasy
2. Pragma (Ludos + Storge) – Realistic and practical love - Geoffrey & Katharine
3. Agape (Eros + Storge) – Selfless love - The end stage love of K&A and K&G.

Source: http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/a/theoriesoflove.htm

Feel free to correct me which love is which.

Maybe it is a long shot, but since there is a lot of people that dislike this movie almost solely because of the cheating factor, I wanted to post this theory of love for better understanding the movie.

Any thoughts?

[–] lamont-hard 13 years ago

I don't think Katherine and Almasy love for each other can even be defined. She was in such turmoil with him it became scary. He was very controlling and jealous of her it seemed to make her miserable more then happy.

Remember at the dance, she was simply being nice to her dance partner and he nearly flipped out he could care less that she was in turmoil and she had obligations to her husband. She at that moment knew she could not be with him.

I think she realized the love she already had with Geoffrey, remember they had known each other for a long time and were very intertwined as friends first husband and lovers second, was enough to keep her from leaving him as she would never be able to put behind her leaving him for a different type of love and passionate, obsessive love, even though it was the thrill of her life.

Another contrast in the types of love were.. when Geoffrey crashing the plain at the end of the film she knew what he was trying to do and most women would have hated him as it would have killed her two. She understood that besides what he did he should be buried so his remains are not left to rot in an open desert she forgave him as she knew he was heartbroken by her betrayal, this was the Realistic and practical, selfless, love as you described it.

She waiting in the cave and he trying to get back to her was the not so much practical but more selfless love. This is where Almasy realized he may have pushed the whole thing to far with his obsession with her as no one won in the end his actions fueled the whole thing as he really got her and her husband killed.

[–] purpleleaf7 13 years ago

I like how you broke it down.

[–] minhal92 13 years ago

I really like the way you broke it down, but I don't think you can really define love as "6 types of love". I'm pretty sure its more - much more complicated than that.

[–] pc-daisy 12 years ago

I am sure you are right, that is if you mean real life, not just the characters in the film.

Complicated or simple? One of the problems with the concept of humans mating for life is that we require different types of love and are conditioned to expect that one person can meet all those expectations. Not that I condone cheating, I don't. But everything has a cycle, including relationships and because we are told that everything lasts forever, heartbreak ensues when it does not.

[–] DuJen 10 years ago

I think there are other examples of love in this movie also. Hana loves Almasy as an example of either love as friendship, or selfless love. And the relationship between Carvaggio and Hana, is there some form of love there?