50 all-time great romantic movies

This version of Pride and Prejudice, with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as the arrogant Mr. Darcy, may be the most romantic of all the novel’s adaptations. Just picture the cranky Mr. Darcy (now lovestruck to the point of breathlessness) traipsing across an English field in an open shirt, his trench coat wafting on the fog, as he marches toward a woman he can only hope will one day love him. If you like early-1800s dance parties, proposals in the rain, or the delights of being called “Mrs. Darcy,” this is the romantic movie for you.

Cate Blanchett plays Carol, a married woman who falls in love with a younger shop girl (Rooney Mara). The 1950s setting provides a sumptuous, stylish backdrop to the women’s tangled love affair. It’s captured through glances and nuance in a world that denies such passion. The drama unfolds as Carol’s husband discovers her illicit love and seeks to take her child from her. The movie seethes with romantic desire, but it also aches with the oppression of loving when your society seeks to repress it.

What do you do when you fall in love with the class valedictorian, but she’s way out of your league? According to the one of the most romantic movies ever, you hold up a boom box on her front lawn and blast “In Your Eyes.” John Cusack plays Lloyd Dobler, who makes it his full-time job to love the perfectionist Dianne (Ione Skye), whose seemingly perfect life falls apart. He’s there to support her through the upheaval. Who doesn’t need a Lloyd Dobler in their life?

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Travel to Paris with this romantic French movie that captures the magic of infatuation. Audrey Tautou stars as a waifish barista who’s up to trickster mayhem intended to bring romance and whimsy to the lives of those around her. The film features thrilling fantasy sequences that warm the heart, but the real fun happens when Amélie herself falls in love. Prepare to fall for Paris, the young French heroine, and love itself in a movie that’s so touching, it’ll melt even the hearts of cynics.

If you’ve ever thought you might die of a broken heart, this is the film for you. No one spins romance and courtship like Jane Austen, and this adaptation of her novel about the Dashwood sisters will thrill viewers. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson play the marriageable siblings, and Hugh Grant and a deliciously dashing Alan Rickman delight as the eligible suitors.

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Prepare for desperately romantic cinematography that captures 1960s Hong Kong awash with deeply rich colours and textures. The story follows two married people living in the same building who discover that their spouses are having an affair. Their shared grief and loneliness creates unexpected love. It’s a film that brims with the anguish of missed encounters and the longtime intensity of true love in the face of obstacle.

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Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter star as the couple who would become America’s 44th President and First Lady – Barack and Michelle Obama. The film follows the romantic first date of the two dynamic personalities as they get to know each other and walk and talk for hours before seeing the movie Do the Right Thing in 1989. Southside with You is all the more romantic and intriguing given what the audience knows about the couple’s future. The movie captures the two iconic figures with a warmth and intensity that makes this film a true love story rather than a simple biography.

This true story about C.S. Lewis (the author of The Chronicles of Narnia) and the American poet Joy Davidman will soothe your soul and break your heart. Anthony Hopkins plays Lewis with a formality that threatens to boil over with a tightly held passion. At first, he marries Joy (Debra Winger) only so she can stay in England, but soon he’s swept up by her direct, bold intensity. Soon, a serious diagnosis threatens the happiness of the two writers in love. Quiet scenes capture the ache of true love and its inevitable loss.

Anthony Hopkins is also renowned for his portrayal of one of the scariest characters of all time, Hannibal Lecter. Here are the scariest movies of all time. 

In this sweet and dreamy high school rom-com based on the book of the same name, a middle sister (played by Lana Condor) writes letters to all the boys she loves – and then her little sister mails them! This is extremely awkward, especially since one was addressed to their older, college-bound sister’s ex. The movie puts Korean American girls at the centre of the action, offering powerful and positive representation. Heartthrob Noah Centineo plays one of the letter recipients, and he’ll take you back to high school all over again for dizzying, goofy romance.

This extraordinary French masterpiece captures the intense romantic pleasures of being seen. It follows an artist sent to paint the portrait of a woman in order to send it to her fiancé so that he may see her face. The woman refuses to be captured, so the artist paints her in secret. The artist and her subject fall in love, and the film creates the passion of their mutual gazes and desires. It features quiet moments with intense longing and an understanding of time and place for women confined by their place in society – but who find creative ways to bust out.