The 10 Best Romance Movies of the 21st Century
What’s the smell in the air? Is it roses? Chocolate? Body odor? No, it’s love! What’s not to love about a love story? They bring us joy. They make us cry. And most of all, they help us to believe in the idea that love is possible—that there’s somewhere out there waiting for every one of us. While the 21st-century dating pool can sometimes feel like a dating-app drenched situationship swamp, these ten films give us hope for love. Here they are, the ten best romance movies of the 21st century. The next time you’re thinking about dinner and movie with that special someone, why not take them to see one of these?
Portrait of A Lady On Fire
Directed by Céline Sciamma, Portrait of A Lady On Fire is described as a sapphic period romance—I was sold from that sentence alone. Set in the 18th century, the story follows a painter named Marianne who travels to a distant island to paint the portrait of Héloïse, a young woman soon to be married off to a nobleman from Milan. As Titanic suggests, portrait painting is a rather romantic activity—lots of intense staring at one another for hours on end. As the painter observes the paintee, the paintee looks back into her, and finds a similar longing hiding in the expression on her face. You know that thing Nietzsche said about staring into abysses and how they stare back into you? For Marianne, the abyss is Héloïse’s eyes; she feels like she could just fall in—and Héloïse’s gaze suggests the same.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stars Kate Winslet and Jim Carry, the latter trading his “laugh out loud” antics for a more “cry in silence” performance style. Carrey plays Joel Barish, a recently brokenhearted man who undergoes an experimental procedure to forget his ex entirely—after the devastating realization that she’s already had the procedure done herself. As Joel backtracks through his memories of his beloved Clementine, the viewer is given a dreamlike glimpse into their relationship: the highs, the lows, the moments where it all went wrong, and the things that could make it right again. A thoroughly gut-wrenching film inspired by an equally intestines-gouging poem by Alexander Pope, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a hopeful portrayal of nearly-doomed love.
Lost In Translation
If you’re looking for steamy hookup scenes, scroll on—Lost In Translation is about so much more than that. It’s the story of aging movie star Bob Harris, who travels to Tokyo to appear in a whiskey ad—and get a little distance from his failing marriage. During his frequent visits to the hotel bar, Bob strikes up a friendship with Charlotte, a young Yale grad stuck shadowing her celebrity photographer husband. The pair bond over their mutual loneliness, two strangers in a strange land, estranged from the people that they’re supposed to feel closest to. The film trades sexual intimacy for emotional intimacy, the far more vulnerable of the pair. Bob and Charlotte share their hopes, dreams, disappointments, and a few laughs—all knowing that their love can never be.
Carol
An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt, Todd Haynes’ Carol is the story of Therese Belivet, an aspiring photographer stuck working in a department store during the 1952 Christmas season—could there be anything worse? Her customer service worker woes are momentarily forgotten when she meets Carol, a glamorous, soon-to-be-divorced older woman who holds her gaze just a little longer than normal. And so begins a clandestine sapphic romance for the ages, two women engaging in a silent, sensual rebellion against the stiflingly heteronormative society that surrounds them. Aside from its glorious “Harold, they’re lesbians” internet meme claim to fame, Carol is a staggering romantic drama, a piece of queer cinema royalty.
Love And Basketball
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, Love and Basketball is a romance framed like a basketball game—told across four separate quarters. The first quarter begins in Los Angeles, following the childhood friends Monica and Quincy, who bond over a mutual love of the sport. The remaining quarters follow the pair at pivotal moments in both their personal and professional lives; their affection for one another deepens as their athletic careers reach new heights. It’s a film about friendship, ambition, rivalry, and love—as well as the complicated balance both Monica and Quincy must strike with those sometimes conflicting values across their lives.
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Y Tu Mama Tambien follows two teens who embark on the coming-of-age romance of their lives, along with a woman ten years older. Julio and Tenoch have just graduated high school, and are spending the summer doing whatever teenage boys do: in this case, jerking off into public pools and being general menaces. At a party thrown by Julio’s high society father, the pair meet Luisa, a beautiful woman in her late 20s. Attempting to impress her, they tell her that they’re about to go on a cross-country roadtrip to Boca del Cielo, a place they just made up on the spot. To their surprise, Luisa agrees to come along, and the trio cram themselves and their menage-a-tois romantic tension into a four-door and split. What begins as a film about sexual awakening blossoms into an exploration of the passage of youth. You’re only young once; might as well enjoy it while you can.
Brokeback Mountain
Directed by Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain was perhaps the most impactful queer romance film of the 2000s, a gay cowboy love story for the masses. Set in early 190s Wyoming, the film follows cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist—hired to work as sheep herders in the titular highland. After Jack drunkenly displays an attraction that Ennis reciprocates, the pair begin a clandestine romance out on the range that ends as messily as it began. They attempt to go back to old lives and new wives, but they soon realize that they just “can’t quit” one another—a phrase that leads to some serious tear-jerker scenes. It’s an absolutely devastating romance story, one that came at a time when romance between men was seldom shown onscreen. Brokeback Mountain trotted so gay romance modern classics like Call Me By Your Name could gallop.
In The Mood For Love
Directed by Wong Kar-wai, In The Mood For Love is the story of Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen, two next-door neighbors whose spouses are having an affair. Frequently left alone during late nights after their lovers step out the door, the pair’s polite relationship soon blooms into something more intimate as they piece together the details of the infidelity. It’s a tender, slow-burning romance about two deeply wounded people learning to love again, their relationship complicated by the ghosts of their lovers’ past. Full of the wist and longing that made Fallen Angels one of the most impactful films of Wong Kar-wai’s career, In The Mood For Love is all the missed connection romance without any of the contract-killing—it’s probably better for Chow and Su’s relationship that way.
Let The Right One In
Adapted from a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In is a queer coming-of-age masterpiece with a twist of vampire horror. Set in a working-class suburb of Sweden, the film follows a bullied young boy named Oskar who befriends his neighbor Eli, a mysterious girl who only comes out at night. As exsanguinated bodies start piling up around town, Oskar puts two and two together. But does he care that his new best friend is a creature of the night? Not in the slightest. In fact, he wants to go steady. A story about needs and neglect, Let The Right One In cautions the viewer to carefully consider the people they allow into their lives. Considering his alcoholic father, his clueless mother, and his abusive classmates, it’s no surprise that Eli is the person Oskar loves the most: she’s the only person on Earth who can truly protect him.
Her
Directed by Spike Jonze, Her is the story of a love affair between man and machine. Devastated by his coming divorce, Theodore Twombly buys a copy of OS¹: an AI capable of adapting itself to the user’s needs. After asking him a few questions about his mother, the OS soon reintroduces itself as Samantha—and its subsequent interactions with Theodore become disarmingly personal and maybe even… flirty? As Theo and Sam grow closer, their romance is challenged by Theo’s closest human relationships, including his ex-wife. Her is a strangely prophetic film, as more and more people are turning to language models like ChatGPT for emotional support—and AI is giving increasingly emotionally intelligent responses. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck (metaphorically speaking), then according to Theo, it might be time to take AI on a date.
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