BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Some movie romances are a whirlwind, Character 1 and Character 2 meet and immediately jump into bed —literally and figuratively— together. Other movies take their time to develop romance, letting the tension between the leads build to a boiling point. The delayed gratification of a good slow burn can be one of the most rewarding kinds of movie romances. These 10 films are tantalizing examples of building sexual tension so intense you can feel it pulsating off the screen.

Adventureland (2009)

After his parents run into some financial troubles recent college grad James (Jesse Eisenberg) has to postpone his plans of a European vacation and find a summer job before starting grad school. He gets a job at the titular Adventureland amusement park where he meets coworker Em (Kristen Stewart). The two spend the summer dancing around each other, neither sure how much of themselves they are willing to give. This off-beat dramedy focuses on two young people trying to figure out who they are in the world and who they can be together.

Before Sunrise (1995)

Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), two young, attractive strangers on a train meet and are instantly taken with each other. After chatting for a bit the train pulls up at Jesse’s stop, not wanting to part just yet, Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him in Vienna to see where the day takes them. He has an early flight back to the states the next morning, and she has to get back to Paris for university, but the promise of what can happen in one day is too alluring for either to let slide and they embark on a will-they or won’t-they through the streets of Vienna. This film actually serves as the first in a trilogy, so you’ll eventually get your answer to will-they or won’t-they?

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Summertime in Northern Italy is an ideal setting for a slowly simmering love story to unfold. 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) spends the summer of 1983 with his parents in the Italian countryside, when the 24-year-old grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer) shows up at Elio’s father’s invitation Elio is not quite sure what he feels. At first potentially annoyed with the Adonis-looking Oliver, that annoyance eventually gives way into new feelings for Elio. The sexual tension brought on by Elio and Oliver’s cerebral flirtation sets the stage for their sensual love affair. And who could ever forget that peach scene?

Carol (2015)

It’s the lingering glances between Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara) that light the fire in this 1950s-set lesbian film based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt. Department store worker Therese is instantly enamored of the glamorous Carol when she wanders into the department store where she works, and when Carol invites her out for lunch she jumps at the chance. This is a film that focuses on the eroticism of the female gaze, on the awakening of a young lesbian woman who is finally starting to question does she want to be this suave woman she has befriended, or does she want to be with her?

Like Water For Chocolate (1992)

Barred from being with the man she loves, a young woman pours her heart and soul into her cooking. Tita (Lumi Cavazos) and Pedro (Marco Leonardi) want to be together, but Tita’s mother has forbid her from ever getting wed, so Pedro marries Tita’s sister Rosaura (Yareli Arizmendi) to stay close to Tita. The more time Tita and Pedro spend together, the more they want each other but cannot consummate their love. This pressure cooker of a film keeps simmering until the very end, bringing a new meaning to delayed gratification. And, in a very on-the-nose move, this film actually features an extended metaphor about how people have a box of matches inside them and need to find the right thing to ignite the first one.

Lost In Translation (2003)

Two people, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and Bob (Bill Murray), in a foreign country, both feeling isolated and detached from their lives meet in a hotel bar and strike up a conversation. She is a young, married woman whose husband is always working and he is an aging actor going through a midlife crisis. This relationship-study film focuses on two people who rediscover themselves through an emotionally charged friendship; a friendship that maybe has the promise of more than just platonic connection.

Princess Cyd (2017)

17-year-old Cyd (Jessie Pinnick) goes to Chicago to visit her aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) for the summer. While there, she meets Katie (Malic White). The slow build of the relationship between Cyd and Katie in this queer coming-of-age by Stephen Cone is one of the most beautifully drawn out depictions of young love, and self-discovery. Cone knows how to focus on the little moments of everyday life, painting a world of incredibly fleshed-out characters. That attention to detail is what makes the relationship between Cyd and Katie as sweet as it is sexy.

A Room With A View (1985)

Another film helmed by Call Me By Your Name scribe James Ivory, and based on the E.M. Forster novel of the same name, this sprawling, historical romance follows Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) and George Emerson (Julian Sands) from their first meeting in Florence to meeting again in England when Lucy is engaged to another man. This is a slow burn caused by the constraints of 1908 society on two young, would-be lovers who can never seem to escape from prying eyes to finally be together.

Witness (1985)

A thriller about a police officer protecting a young Amish boy who witnessed a murder and his mother does not sound like the kind of plot that lends itself to seductive slow burn, but Witness does just that. Harrison Ford, in his only Oscar-nominated role, plays the aforementioned cop and Rachel McGillis his Amish love interest. Sparks fly between the two when Ford has to take refuge in the Amish community to hide out from some corrupt cops. While the tension between them builds so does the rising threat against Ford and McGillis.

You & I (2014)

This artsy German film follows reunited best friends Jonas (Eric Klotzsch) and Phillip (George Taylor) on a road trip through the German countryside. When they pick up a hitchhiker named Boris (Michal Grabowski) who takes a pretty quick liking to Phillip, Jonas realizes that his feelings for Phillip may not be strictly platonic. As the fling between Phillip and Boris develops so does Jonas’ growing jealousy, all eventually climaxing in a deliciously steamy (pun intended) shower scene.