Kate and Leopold

Imagine your future happiness is bound by fate to one man... a man who is dashing, handsome, and chivalrous, and who would do anything in his power to make you happy.

Now imagine he lived and died over a hundred years ago.

Kate and Leopold is a 2001 romantic comedy about Kate (Meg Ryan), an ambitious businesswoman who has been unlucky in love, and Leopold (Hugh Jackman), a 19th-century duke who must marry to restore his family's fortune. The current pool of bachelorettes from his own time don't appeal to him.

Stuart Besser (Leopold's grandson, according to deleted scenes) travels back in time from the 21st century to 1876 via a time portal to document some of Leo's papers in their element. Leopold is suspicious of Stuart and pursues him back to the 21st century by accident. (It was a literal accident.) He is forced to stay in Stuart's apartment, where he meets Kate, who was Stuart's girlfriend until a month prior and still lives in the floor below... She doesn't trust Leopold at first -- after all, she met him at Stuart's. But her brother Charlie returns home while she's at work and befriends him, ensuring they stay in contact. Romance ensues.

There are complications. No one in the 21st century believes Leopold is the Duke of Albany, and he is too honorable a man to make a story that anyone will believe. Oh, and Leopold is the inventor of the elevator, but hadn't invented it yet when he chased Stuart. Thus, all the elevators start malfunctioning as soon as Leopold hits the present. Stuart is the victim of a severe elevator accident, and so is sidelined for most of the film desperately trying to deliver important messages -- a problem made worse because these messages all involve time travel.

"Kate: I can't believe I gave you the best years of my life.
 * Delayed Ripple Effect: The elevators get all weird and non-functional when Leopold, inventor of the elevator, is transported to the 21st century.
 * Double Entendre: "And in the future I believe men will be judged by the size of their erections!"
 * Double Standard: Kate and Stuart are equally mean to each other, but we're supposed to regard Stuart as the bad guy, and Kate as The Woobie. E.g.,:

Stuart: Those were your best?

Kate looks like she's about to cry. Director expects audience's sympathy to be with Kate. Audience mostly wonders why Stuart ever put up with her.."

"Leopold: No, no, this will not do.
 * Did Not Do the Research: Leopold's knowledge of The Pirates of Penzance and La Boheme coming from the year 1876. It's especially strange with the former, seeing as they did do enough research to get the location of the premiere right - but not the date. Penzance premiered in 1879, four years too late for Leopold to know about it yet. As for La boheme, that premiered in 1896 - twenty years too late.
 * Leopold also mentions Jack the Ripper, whose famous murders occurred in 1888.
 * In the commentary, the director states outright that one could tear the movie apart based on its inaccuracies. He also argues that to do so would be Completely Missing the Point.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Leopold.
 * Flower Motifs:

Charlie: Wha... Why? What is wrong with this one?

Leopold: The orange lily implies extreme hatred. The begonia and lavender danger and suspicion, respectively. Every flower has a meaning, Charles. Might I suggest the amaryllis, which declares the recipient a most splendid beauty. Or the cabbage rose."

"Leopold: I warn you scoundrel, I was trained at the King's Academy and schooled in weaponry by the palace guard. You stand no chance. When you run, I shall ride, when you stop, the steel of this strap shall be lodged in your brain.
 * Gentleman and A Scholar: Leopold admires men of accomplishment and is working on inventing the elevator.
 * Have a Gay Old Time: Stuart just couldn't keep from chuckling at all the talk of erections...
 * Hey It's Those Guys: It's Wolverine and Sabretooth costarring with Meg Ryan in a romantic comedy!
 * And her boss is Danny from Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip. Or Josh Lyman from The West Wing if you're an earlier Sorkin fan.
 * Horseback Heroism : Leo rides down a purse snatcher through Central Park on the back of a horse that he borrowed from a carriage ride.
 * I Am One of Those, Too: Pwned.
 * I Gave My Word: Marriage is the promise of eternal love and as a man of honor, Leopold can not promise eternally what he has never felt momentarily.
 * Impoverished Patrician: Leopold has no money, which is why his uncle pressures him to marry a rich American. He complains about it in the beginning but in the end he understands that there are some things that a person just needs to do.
 * Knight in Shining Armor:
 * Imagine the look on a purse-snatcher's face when Leo rides him down on horseback.

[bag snatcher throws down the bag and flees, onlookers applaud]"


 * Leopold believes that Kate requires a chaperone on her date with her boss so he offers to go with her to protect her from his obvious intentions. When she refuses he tells her boss, "Some feel that to court a woman in one's employ is nothing more than a serpentine effort to transform a lady to a whore."
 * Name and Name: He's Leopold and she's Kate and together their names make the title.
 * Officer and A Gentleman: He's a duke who was trained in the King's Academy and schooled in weaponry by the palace guard.
 * Old School Chivalry: The nobleman from 1876, who is accustomed to stand when a lady leaves the table, is often mocked for things like his idea of the culinary arts, but he does become more modern and learns that obligation will trump integrity. He also woos Kate with a moonlight dinner and dancing on the roof, breakfast the next morning, etc.
 * Overly Long Name: ...so long that the policewoman doesn't believe that is Leopold's name and uses the name on that bill for Stuart.
 * Paranormal Romance
 * Prince Charming: Leopold writes the best apology letter in the history of mankind.
 * Race For Your Love
 * Rebel Prince: Leopold says to his uncle that he is no duke because the new royals are men of accomplishment.
 * Red String of Fate
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: No, Leopold cannot stay in the present in the long run!
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Kate says that Leopold's handsome, honest, courteous. Stands when you walk in a room. Brings you brioche in bed. She realizes that he is someone who came along who knew exactly what she wanted without asking.
 * Stable Time Loop: It is implied that Leo's line wouldn't have continued successfully if he hadn't met Kate. (His old house .) That wouldn't have happened if Stuart hadn't gone back in time and accidentally brought him to the present.
 * Time Travel Romance: A romantic comedy example.
 * White Stallion: That horse that Duke Leopold borrowed from a carriage ride just so happened to be white.
 * Your Universe or Mine