Always together…eternally apart

 "Always together… eternally apart.  As long as the sun rises and sets, as long as there is day and night, and for as long as they both shall live.  You have stumbled onto a tragic story. And now, whether you like it or not, you are lost in it, with the rest of us."  —Ladyhawke

This is one of my very favorite films.  I love the story, the actors, and the magic of it all.

Isabelle d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Captain Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer) are in love, but a wicked cleric puts a curse on them:  Isabelle becomes a Hawk by day and at the moment of sunset, as she turns back into a woman, the Captain becomes a wolf.  And so he rides by day, with the hawk on his wrist or circling above him, and she wanders the forest by night, her palm resting on the wolf's neck as he pads by her side.

Phillipe Gaston (a very young Matthew Broderick) is a mischievous petty thief who comes into their lives and is determined to help them lift the curse.

The scenes at sunset and sunrise, when each transforms from human to animal, are so haunting and sad because for one split second they are both human and see one another. 

Truly an exquisite rendering of a haunting love story.  A faëry tale in every possible sense!