Over the years on Substack, I’ve written more than my fair share of romance film and TV recommendations. I’m a romance writer, a monthly romance book club runner, and a devoted consumer of the genre, so while I may not be uniquely qualified to anoint the best of the best, I am undeniably experienced. What follows is a list of my favorites—very much influenced by my current mood, because when is writing not inspired by those oozy, gooey, and occasionally tumultuous sentiments? (Here’s looking at you, Emerald Fennell and your Jacob Elordi-brooding-Heathcliff-core Wuthering Heights.)
I was already fully aboard the Jacob Elordi train (drooling and all) back in the The Kissing Booth days when he was still dating former child star Ramona-Joey King, his romantic lead in the series, because of course chemistry art intimated life. And yes, the “drooling” reference is deliberate: it’s a direct quote from the first film, when Elordi’s character’s brother tells his best friend (King’s character) to stop drooling over his older brother. Consider this my long-standing credibility check on Elordi lore. And yes, I avoided Euphoria, because that stuff is too dark, but mostly here for the rest of his stuff.
This category is for all the unrequited love tropes that either get their HEA (happily other after) or experience some sort of life-altering catharsis. It often involves one character that has been pining away and harboring deep romantic feelings for his/her friend. Cue Andy Lincoln in Love Actually:
And really, Kiera, you should have left your hubby. Unpopular opinion of one.
One Day (2024, Netflix series adaptation)
Right person, wrong time. Friends-to-lovers. Class differences. And time travel—well, sort of—in that the story unfolds over many years, from Dex and Emma meeting at uni (that’s Brit for “university”) all the way through their 30s.
Quasi Tragic Ending: You need to see it to believe it.
This Time Next Year (2024, Paid watch)
Based on the glorious Brit romance author Sophie Cousens, this story follows two fated people, born on January 1st, who orbit one another over the course of their lives. Friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, yes, but also a beautiful tale of platonic love and friendship, including the relationships between their mothers. Don’t let the low IMDb ratings dissuade you. This one’s a keeper.
P.S. Book lovers - Sophie Cousens latest book is a love triangle involving a humanoid and it’s SPECTACULAR (all caps).
Read about This Time Next Year here
The Materialists or Past Lives (from the Celine Song vault):
If “Bad at Love” by Halsey is playing in your head as the unofficial soundtrack to this list, you’re exactly right. This one’s dedicated to the toxic, ugly, yet undeniably poetic kind of love—the kind powered by damaged characters we know we shouldn’t relate to… and somehow still do.
The Beast (2023, Paid watch)
Hoping to eliminate pain caused by their past-life romances, Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) continually falls in love with different incarnations of Louis (George MacKay). Set first in Belle Époque-era Paris Louis is a British man who woos her away from a cold husband, then in early 21st Century Los Angeles, he is a disturbed American bent on delivering violent “retribution.” Will the process allow Gabrielle to fully connect with Louis in the present, or are the two doomed to repeat their previous fates?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Disney - because yeah, why not?)
The Jim Carrey–Kate Winslet tragi-romance of the early aughts remains one of the most prescient AI-inflected love stories of its time. It’s a melancholy, mind-bending exploration of memory, regret, and emotional erasure born from the inventive hivemind of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman. I still think about this one 20+ years later.
Naturally, the top Apple TV+ show of the year, Pluribus, comes immediately to mind when I think about the things I claim to hate—but secretly love—about one woman’s attempt to make sense of (and find happiness amid) the end of the world as she knows it.
Spoiler alert: Carol does not feel fine, despite what R.E.M. once promised us. Her wife has just died and she is lonely. And that’s precisely the point. The show interrogates the parts of ourselves that make us human, asking whether happiness actually requires the elimination of our darker instincts like anger and resentment or whether those impulses are inseparable from any honest version of being alive.
Often embodying a savior component, including the popular Cinderella or the Cinder-dude equivalent meets Prince/-ss Charming, and mostly, just good old fashioned love - the kind with concealed identities and love triangles we relish, of course.
Roman Holiday (1953, Tubi)
What’s not to love about the story of hidden identities and how the course of one day can alter the trajectory of your life. The film stars a 23-year-old Audrey Hepburn as Princess Anja/Ann of some European country and Gregory Peck, as American journalist Joe Bradley, who is on to her. I covered it in a [Romance Film Club in October 2024]
Now, Voyager (1942, Tubi)
From last year’s V-Day roundup
Bette Davis, plays Charlotte Vale, a traumatized “spinster” born to a wealthy New England family, with the misfortune of having an abusive mother (Gladys Cooper) who seeks to keep her down. A kind psychiatrist (Claude Rains) and a benevolent sister-in-law (Ilka Chase) conspire in the best of ways to get Charlotte out of the grips/talons of her mother and into a healthier environment. The result is transformative, and as any good love story will teach you, where self-worth/self-love blossoms, so does romantic love. As Charlotte befriends a married architect named Jerry (Paul Henreid), and the two discover what it is to be truly understood and seen.
A side note: Paul Henreid, Davis’s lover interest in Now, Voyager, also played Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, that other well-known love triangle film. Heinreid is dreamy so I’m not feeling too bad Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) ended up with him. Besides, if we’re being technical, Casablanca is a quadrangle romance involving Louis, Rick, Ilsa and Victor. So, you’re welcome for the video below:
An Affair to Remember (1957, Paid Watch)
Nick Ferrante (Cary Grant) and Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), star as the substitutes for Boyer and Dunne from the original Love Affair (1939). At the start of the film, they are both engaged to other people. But they fall in love during a European cruise as they endure the pressures of pesky paparazzi.
Sabrina (1954, MGM+)
Forget the part where this Audrey Hepburn - Humphrey Bogart film solidifies the romance triangle genre of “Cinderella” meets her match, but the twist here is Prince Charming is anything but charming, as Bogart does his best as Linus, the practical, reliable brother to William Holden’s playboy that Sabrina is initially attracted to. If there wasn’t a Sabrina, Summer I Turned Pretty, that addictive YA love story, would never have been. Watch the OG Billy Wilder directed original.
Bridgerton, Season 4 (2026, Netflix)
This headline below says it all. Now that have it the hidden identities are revealed, will part two, coming out in two weeks resolve the class disparities so Sophie and Benedict can find their ever after?
A now a word from our sponsor re: the love story between singer Paul Simon and actress-writer-comedian-Princess Leia-all around talent Carrie Fisher and how being written into a Simon song is #endgoals:
One of my first posts on Substack (Feb, 2021)/ Happy 5-year Anniversary to me!
Valentine's Day Inspired 90s Romance
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February 14, 2021
There was a lot of good iconic film produced in the 90s and the decade itself experienced a rapid maturity in the span of 10 years. If we think of the beginning of the decade being Pretty Woman, somewhere in the middle, we had Reality Bites and Natural Born Killers
Leave a comment if you do love the way I do. I mean per this post, of course. And naturally, give your nominations and recos for these categories:
Love Actually/Unrequited
Burn it all down for Love/Bad at Love
Including Sci-fi twists
Classic Love
Tip: To see any of these movies for free, check out Kanopy first to see if they are available. Kanopy is a free video streaming service offered by the library that provides instant access to thousands of critically acclaimed movies, documentaries and Kids favorites.
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