Romance movies are uniquely good at telling truly human stories that I find particularly easy to relate to. It’s like crying over the death of a fictional child in a movie because you have kids of your own. In other words, you have an easier time empathizing with these characters, their struggles, and the mushy love shared between them.
It’s why I often find romance movies, whether down-to-earth or in one of the best K-dramas, so compelling. However, there are some that are so touching, they bring me to my knees, where I then weep for their reunion. You have my permission to cry!
6
Marriage Story
Watch Marriage Story on Netflix
Marriage Story is arguably what any good, loving relationship fears—an ugly, legal battle with children stuck in the middle. After ever-increasing marital problems, Charlie and Nicole decide to separate, with Henry, their son, staying with Nicole. Threats by lawyers soon turn an otherwise amicable separation into a stress-inducing and painful experience. It’s an emotionally powerful movie and, in some cases, rather scary how human the performances are.
What made me so emotional over Marriage Story was its realistic depiction of how a marriage can also be negatively influenced by outside forces. Sometimes, the biggest reasons they end can be due to others filling your head with false accusations. It’s love that has been poisoned, and you desperately want Charlie and Nicole to rekindle their relationship because of the beautiful chemistry between the turmoil.
5
We Live in Time
Watch We Live in Time on HBO Max
I wager that being a parent has a hand in whyWe Live in Time struck a chord with me. When a couple falls madly in love, the life they were building is suddenly thrown into turmoil due to cancer. With their young daughter, they make it their goal to spend as much time together as possible.
We Live in Time encapsulates what you hope to accomplish when you have a family—to love each other for as long as possible. And even though this particular story revolves a terminally-ill mother, I feel it still comments on the fleeting nature of time. I may not have cancer, but watching We Live in Time made me focus on the time I had left, especially the ending.
4
The Shape of Water
Watch The Shape of Water on Amazon Prime
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, who’s known for making wonderfully weird movies, gets us to care about the love between a mute janitor and an amphibious creature. And although she works for the government that’s holding the creature captive, she decides to set him free, anyway.
The relationship between Elisa and the amphibian is so weird and otherworldly, and yet their understanding of one another is totally believable. That feeling of having an understanding partner who speaks your language—and in the case of The Shape of Water, they can both use sign language—can have a powerful effect on the strength of a relationship. It might also be the only movie on my list that’s as close to a feel-good movie as you can get.
3
The Notebook
Watch The Notebook on Amazon Prime
The Notebook chronicles the life of two people—the ups and downs, the love that was given and wasn’t, hurt feelings, stolen kisses, and missed opportunities. The story itself has been written in a small notebook, which Duke, an elderly man, reads to an elderly woman at a nursing home.
Why is this movie memed on again? I can’t prove it, but I get the feeling people who clown on this movie haven’t seen it or haven’t felt love. It’s such a tender love story of two very flawed people that speaks to me the most. It’s the kind of spontaneous love you want to root for and even hope you find yourself one day.
2
Call Me by Your Name
Watch Call Me by Your Name on Tubi
Over the summer, Elio’s father opens their home to Oliver, a young graduate student, and the two form a bond. That bond reaches a fever pitch when they realize the time they have left is short. Call Me by Your Name does the unthinkable and tears an electrically charged relationship and ends it in a bittersweet fashion.
Timothée Chalamet gives a particularly great performance as a young, love-struck, and inexperienced lover. And Michael Stuhlbarg’s monologue on love, and loving despite the pain, was beautiful and moving. It doesn’t paint rejection as a negative thing, but a natural part of life, by having Mr. Perlman acknowledge his son’s pain and give him the tools to move forward.
1
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on iQIYI
In a one-in-a-million chance, Joel and Clementine are in the right place at the right time to spark a loving relationship. Over time, it seems to sour, and the two decide to go through with a scientific procedure to forget one another. However, Joel becomes aware during the experiment and fights to wake up before he forgets about Clementine forever.
Ever since I watched Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, and learned of Carrey’s mental state during Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the movie has taken on a much sadder quality. His performance as Joel does give you a genuine sense that this character is heartbroken. I also love the idea of two people, flawed as they are, finding love, and it’s so strong that it transcends a kind of scientific spirit journey.
I love romance movies for their naked honesty with relationships and all their nasty pitfalls, but also the beautiful nature of a mutual partner. The romance genre is uniquely designed for facing complicated feelings, even if it leads to tears. Trust me, they will!
