10 Great Films About Forbidden Love

Ang Lee's emotionally devastating drama Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as a pair of lonely cowboys who, between 1963 and 1983, embark on a powerful affair whilst battling their conflicting feelings about their lives and their futures.

Ennis (Ledger) is the most complex of the pair, a man who struggles through the years to completely open himself up to Jack (Gyllenhaal), right up until the film's crushing finale.

With staggering, award-winning performances from Gyllenhaal, Ledger, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, Brokeback Mountain pulls no punches in detailing the trials and tribulations of the men's relationship, which carries with it threats of violence, ostracisation and even death.

Few films can claim to be as affecting and important as Ang Lee's romantic drama, a film which leaves a lot open to interpretation but still manages to craft a compelling story about love in a complex form, without resorting to forced melodrama or unnecessary cliches.