The secret life of romantic comedy

The theory of romantic comedy

Comic negotiations

Romantic comedy on the dark side

Contemporary romantic comedy and the discourse of independence.

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The theory of romantic comedy

Romantic comedy and laughter

Happy endings, forgotten middles and the ideology of romantic comedy

The space of romantic comedy

The Sydney issue

Genres and films

2. Comic negotiations

I. Laughter, love and World War II: *To be or not to be*

Love and the invasion of Poland

A table for three: the love triangle

Lubitsch meets screwball royalty

That great, great Polish actor

Performing love, performing war

II. Romantic comedy in no man's land: Kiss me, stupid

Romantic comedy in the 1950s

Satire and comedy

Moral standards and character identification

Climaxing in Climax

Bang, bang

Comic combinations

3. Romantic comedy on the dark side

I. The other thrills of *Rear window*

Look at me

Society calling

It started with a kiss

The neverending story

II. The space of comedy and beyond: *Crimes and misdemeanors*

Love, faith and the comic space

Inside the Statue of Liberty or love in the time of cholera

Splitting genres

The fisher king and the future generations

4. Contemporary romantic comedy and the discourse of independence

Love in real time: *Before sunset*

The realities of love

Walking and talking

Sex and the city

Bibliography

Index.