I am not one for romance, nor do I particularly care for Valentine's Day. But despite my cynicism towards romance in general, I will confess that I do have a soft spot for a good romantic film. Valentine's Day is of course tomorrow, and I'm sure you're all digging out your Notebook DVDs to watch with your other half on V Day while you cry into each others arms and stuff your faces with heart shaped chocolates. (Please do not do this.) Always eager to make people stop watching The Notebook, here are my suggestions for films that are romantic enough to watch either with your other half or alone whilst downing a bottle of wine on this approaching Friday - and films that have managed to warm even my own cynical heart.
Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight
I wasn't planning on making this list ordered so it's funny that the Before trilogy ended up at the spot, because they are undeniably (in my humble opinion at least) the most - and equally least - romantic films ever made. For those not in the know - Celine and Jesse meet on a train headed for Vienna in 1995. They get talking and end up getting off the train together, spending a night walking around Vienna, getting to know each other, and falling in love. Nine years go by, and they have yet another chance encounter in Paris. Another nine years, and they holiday in Greece. What's wonderful about these films is that while we're only seeing three days of it over 18 years, we immediately get a sense of the couple's relationship. We fall in love with them at the same time as they fall in love with each other. Oh god, I'm having a little pretend cry just thinking about these films. They are the perfect mixture of cute, heartbreaking, funny and serious. Plus, Ethan Hawke is oddly tolerable throughout.
It's Complicated
Reasons 1 through 10 of why I like this film so much are MERYL STREEP. But suspend disbelief, because this film is actually so much better than it looks. Streep plays a divorced bakery owner who begins an affair with her ex-husband, all the while stringing along her hapless landscape gardener, played by Steve Martin. Cheesy prospect, I admit, but the main reason why this film is on this list is because it's FUN! There's a scene where Meryl Streep and Steve Martin get high together. There's dancing. There are parts that are so cliched you can see them coming from a mile away, but in a nice way! There is a punchline that involves Alec Balwin skyping naked because, obviously. And, despite being a film about adultery, It's Complicated is surprisingly sweet and gentle.
Lost in Translation
Let me just get this out of the way - I am one of the few people in the world that does not see a romantic connection between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's characters in Lost in Translation. I do believe that the two fall in love with each other, but in the most platonic "two lost souls trying to find a connection in this crazy city" kinda way. But if I did see the spark between them, then I'd probably find Lost in Translation one of the most romantic films ever made. All Sofia Coppola films - ignoring perhaps The Bling Ring - have a touch of love about them. From the dreamy visuals of Virgin Suicides to the absolutely touching ice skating scene in Somewhere, and of course, the ending of LIT. Similarly to Before Sunrise, Coppola creates these two troubled characters, and then simply allows us to watch their relationship slowly unfold over a few short days, only to have them part. As I mentioned, the mystery shrouded whispering scene is absolutely wonderful, something that for true believers unlike myself can only cement Lost in Translation's romantic side.
Moonrise Kingdom
Who knew Bill Murray made so many romantic films, am I right? Romance usually serves as a side plot in Wes Anderson films so it's refreshing to see it take centre stage in this joyous sepia-toned Badlands influenced 60s romp. Sam and Suzy's relationship is one of my favourites on the list because it is simultaneously awkward, adorable and innocent - he makes her cry within a day of them being together, they dance on an abandoned beach to Francoise Hardy, and they send each other adorable letters. Plus, they end up getting married by a short shorts-wearing Jason Schwartzman - pretty much a dream relationship in my book.
When Harry Met Sally
It may be a cliche to include When Harry Met Sally on this list as it is THE Rom-Com but there's a clear reason for this inclusion - it's just really really great. It's an obvious homage to Annie Hall, (which fails to appear on this list for numerous obvious reasons) and in return it has gone on to influence hundreds of other films, like an infinite circle of Rom-Coms. It's funny because the scenes that are now iconic scenes - the diner scene featured above and the Pecan Pie scene which chooses to haunt my mind at odd moments - aren't romantic in the least. It's due to Nora Ephron's wonderful, simple script that the pair's change from friends into more is believable.
Blue Valentine
If this film doesn't simultaneously warm and break your heart, then you must be some kind of robot. Out of all of the films on the list, Blue Valentine is undoubtedly the saddest, because while the others show couples falling in love, this one shows them falling apart. And then, for an added kicker, it shows them falling in love as well. Gosling and Williams performances in this film are absolutely amazing, and in fact it still blows my mind that they didn't both win awards for this film. (Ryan Gosling wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for this?) Another nice touch is that the "young" half of the film is filmed on 35mm, while the "old" half is filmed on digital, making watching the couple fall in love all the more beautiful and offering a wonderfully stark contrast. There are just SO many things I could say about this film but when it comes down to it there is really one thing that makes this film so romantic and special - the moment when Gosling whips out a ukulele and sings while Williams dances along.
Trust
Trust is described as an "asexual romance", which is a pretty accurate description of it. The film's couple, played by Hal Hartley regulars Adrienne Shelley and Martin Donovan aren't even a couple. They never have sex, or say I love you. It's this innocence that makes them so endearing and compelling to watch. It's a typical Hartley story (and if you've never seen any of his films, I definitely recommend that you start here) of outsiders in a small town, struggling to get by and asking a lot of existential questions. Shelley's Maria flees home after accidentally giving her dad a heart attack when she reveals that she's pregnant. She meets up with Donovan's nihilistic IT man, and it's all go from here - or not. Typical of indie films, not much exactly happens, but you find yourself so drawn into the characters and their anti-romance that by the end of it you'll wish you could carry on glimpsing into their weird little world.
Harold and Maude
Ah, speaking of weird... potentially the weirdest romance of them all. So a teenage boy obsessed who spends his time crashing other people's funerals and finding ways to "fake" his own death meets a 79 year old woman who is the complete opposite of him - loud, extroverted, opinionated. And then, to a soundtrack of Cat Stevens songs, they fall in love. And it's really really really sweet? What makes the film so sweet - and initially horrifying - is that it's no afraid to show weirdos in love. Maude is old, and not in a "hot older woman" Mrs Robinson kind of way. Their relationship, like this film is short and sweet, and quite frankly, mainly due to its subject matter, Harold and Maude is one of a kind.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Here's where I go all film student on you and throw a silent film into the mix JUST BECAUSE I CAN. But in all seriousness, Sunrise is a really beautiful film about losing and rediscovering love in your marriage. The Man is enchanted by the seductive Woman from the City who encourages him to drown his innocent wife and run away with her. (Um yeah so the Virgin and Whore stereotypes in this film kinda such but let's just ignore that for now...) But when he attempts to go through with it, he realises that he loves his wife, and they reconcile and a spend a day in the city falling in love with both it and each other. It's a simple story, but bear in mind that it was made about a million years ago, and it was considering fairly complex. It's worth noting that the film is called "A Song of Two Humans" and the film's soundtrack is like a third main character here, perfectly complimenting this wonderful little film.
Hitch
I was gonna apologise for Hitch being on this list but then I remembered that it's actually amazing and now I regret NOTHING. It may be a little cheesy, and it may even be a little sleezy, but it's a modern-ish (It came out nearly ten years ago?! God I feel old.) Rom-Com that doesn't suck, plus it's a Hollywood film with two non-white main characters so yay for that! Also it has a really good soundtrack! The film's main romance, that of Will Smith and Eva Mendes is the one that comes closest to cheese, but the film's other budding coupleship of Kevin James and Amber Valletta is very charming. Also yet another film with a really good song and dance number in it - the wedding scene at the end is pure gold.
Punch Drunk Love
This Paul Thomas Anderson directed, Adam Sandler starring Rom-Com is potentially one of the oddest films I've seen, purely for how it pushes both the director and the star out of their comfort zones and yet still manages to make a perfect, funny and sincere little film. The film's plot is Coen Brothers-esque - a lonely man who has seven sisters and works for a company that sells novelty toilet plungers has to battle being blackmailed by a phone sex line as he simultaneously falls madly in love, oh and decides to learn to play a harmonium he discovers after a freak accident outside his work. NONE of this should work and yet on screen it does perfectly. The romance between Sandler's character and his beau played by Emily Watson is so unexpectedly touching - in particular the above scene where the couple unite in Hawaii. On paper, this film sounds like nonsense, but when you watch, you too with inevitably become drawn in.
Submarine
Submarine
I'm not a pyromanic (dreadful way to begin a sentence) but Oliver and Jordanna's firework and flare based date looks like an absolute dream to me. Like 90% of this film seems made for teenagers to post on their Tumblrs, but despite this it does have real heart and soul. There are so many memorable scenes that make up Oliver and Jordanna's relationship - as my friend listed frantically to me via a Facebook conversation when I desperately asked her WHY Submarine was a good Romantic Film - the moment as pictured above when Oliver tries and fails to seduce Jordanna, a brief moment when they sit in a bathtub, the cassette that Oliver's dad makes for him, and of course the ending. It may be unconventional and it may at times be twee for the sake of it, but it's an oddly timeless romantic film for the modern age.
Grace Barber-Plentie
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