Even the hardest of cinephiles can’t deny the pleasure of emotions that come with a heart-wrenching love story. Sadly, it’s an overly saturated genre with shallow and surface-level storytelling filtering in. However, these 20 films will have you rethink your conventions of romance and go beyond the surface.
Before Trilogy
This one is actually three films because it’s impossible to choose just one to go on this list, and really, this deserves to be watched as a trilogy. Jesse (played by Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) meet on a train and wander the streets of Vienna knowing they’ll only have one night together. The rest of the trilogy takes us through their beautiful but complicated lives.
Lost In Translation
Two adrift individuals find themselves visiting Tokyo at the same time, both at odds with their current lives, and find authenticity in the company of each other. Directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson.
All of Us Strangers
A recent release, All of Us Strangers sees Adam having his banal life in a near-empty London high rise, interrupted by Harry who sets Adam off into revisiting his past as his present himself. There, he goes back to his childhood home and sees his long-dead parents. It stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, so there’s that too.
Edward Scissorhands
A classic from Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, tells the story of Edward who is an outcast science experiment with scissors for hands but an equally human heart. In the small suburban town where he is taken, Edward falls in love for the first time.
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a brutal and honest commentary on alcoholism, that earned Nicolas Cage an Oscar for Best Actor. The film follows a man who heads to Las Vegas with a plan to drink himself to death. There he meets a sex worker who shakes the course of those plans.
Empire of Light
In the South Coast of England during the 1980s, this is a love story that forms in the magic of an old cinema. It is a turbulent time, for England and the characters, and through that, an unlikely romance develops between Olivia Colman and Michael Wards’ characters.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fresh from a breakup, Joel is so broken that his ex-girlfriend decides to undertake a procedure to erase him from her memories, he decides to do that too, but soon realizes he still loves her. Starring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet, this film takes romance to an interesting and imaginative place.
Her
Joaquin Phoenix plays a man who falls in love with an artificial intelligence virtual assistant, in this Spike Jonze film. This unconventional love story speaks to the way technology both connects and disconnects us all.
(500) Days of Summer
Heartbroken that the love of his life (Zoey Deschanel) has dumped him, Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) reflects on the 500 days of dating her and comes to learn things about himself. This isn’t a love story but is a story about love.
50/50
Another starring Joseph-Gordon Levitt, the film follows a young man on his journey through cancer having been given a 50/50 chance of surviving. With a girlfriend who doesn’t actually care about him and a best friend who does, Adam eventually finds the right people to be by his side through this time, including Katherine.
Punch Drunk Love
From director Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch Drunk Love sees an awkward and anxious Barry navigating a world that doesn’t seem to understand him and he doesn’t seem to understand. But for Barry, there’s respite from that in the shape of Lena. Undoubtedly one of Adam Sandlers best performances.
The Peanut Butter Falcon
A tale of an unlikely bond between an on-the-run young man with Down Syndrome with a dream of being a wrestler, and a down-on-his-luck fisherman. Starring Dakota Johnson, Zack Gottsagen, and Shia LaBeouf, there is a sensitivity and endearment that can’t help but make you route for them all.
Brooklyn
Split between two countries and two loves, young Irishwoman Eilis has to choose where her heart is and where she sees her life. This one stars Sairose Ronan.
Call Me By Your Name
Based on the novel of the same name, Call Me By Your Name follows an 18-year-old boy and his falling for an older man. Set in Italy in the 80s, the film feels dreamy and captures first love in a way that feels so honest and heartfelt. Luca Guadagninos’ new film Challengers, is out in cinemas now.
Ghost
Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tony Goldwyn star in this supernatural romance about the spirit of a murdered man attempting to warn his left-behind lover of the dangers she is to face.
Past Lives
Is it possible to have known someone in a past life? Celine Song explores notions of missed connections, destiny, and love in a way that feels so lived, probably because it comes from a personal experience. It is gentle and heart-shattering at the same time, and well worth all the acclaim it has had since its release last year.
Silver Linings Playbook
Fresh off a stint in a secure unit, a man moves back in with his parents and attempts to smooth things out with his ex-wife. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence give life to this quirky and complex love story.
The Terminal
Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a man without a country and limbo, stuck in an airport terminal where he goes about making a life for himself including finding love. It is a severely underrated Steven Spielberg film that will tug on the heartstrings.
Moonlight
This coming-of-age drama from writer and director Barry Jenkins is deserving of the acclaim it has had in telling a story of a young boy struggling with his sexuality and identity. Told through three acts, Little, Chiron, and Black, are all explorations of just that.
Lars and the real girl
An underrated and slightly overlooked Ryan Gosling film, Lars and The Real Girl is a romance story that is indeed unconventional. Goslings’ character strikes up a relationship with a girl he met on the internet, but it turns out that the girl is a plastic-inflated doll.
The great thing about love stories is that they continue to evolve and emerge in different ways because romance is like that and every love story hasn’t been told yet. Make sure to add these to your watchlist.
