10 Best Romantic Movies That Really Get You

They make us root for them and move us to tears: the best romantic movies put us in the mood and are the first choice for a film evening with our date or partner!.

According to the cliché, it is mainly women who like to follow the tragic or even hilarious coming together of a pair of lovers on the screen or monitor. But far from it: many men are just as receptive to the romantic vibes that emanate from really good love films!

I’m really not a fan of kitsch and I’d have to be forced to watch a film like Pearl Harbour. But there are romantic films that are completely outside the clichés and that really get to me. I can only recommend this selection of these favourite best romantic movies to everyone. (The order is random.) These films are perfect for a romantic evening for two or a night out with your best friend.

10 Best Romantic Movies

Punch-Drunk Love

Young entrepreneur Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) sells motto club brushes and other curiosities, but his 7 sisters make his life hell even at work. He can’t even relax in the evening with phone sex, let alone break through his emotional loneliness, because the agency is trying to squeeze more money out of him.

But then he meets the enchanting Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), an employee of his sisters. Thanks to her and a bulk pudding purchase, he eventually travels to Hawaii and love finally enters his life!

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In the Mood for Love

Hong Kong 1962: Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung), the editor-in-chief of a small newspaper, moves into a new flat with his wife. On the same day, Chan Li-Zhen (Maggie Cheung) and her husband also move into the flat next door. Over time, the couples grow apart. When Chow and Chan discover that their partners are having an affair with each other, they initially only seek comfort in each other, but soon more develops out of it.

Hardly any other film finds such beautiful images for the tender longing of an impossible love. A melancholic-romantic masterpiece is composed of gestures, glances and moods.

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The Fabulous World of Amélie

A modern classic, and rightly so: the story of Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou), who enjoys the little pleasures of life in an almost fairytale Paris, doing good to her fellow human beings or even giving lessons to those who deserve them. And who finds her great love Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz) in the course of the film.

The film is full of wonderful ideas for couples on how to give each other small pleasures and is certainly one of the most successful films of all time that warms the heart.
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

On Valentine’s Day, Joel Barrish has a sudden epiphany on his way to work and drives to the beach in Montauk instead, where he sees a beautiful woman who seems strangely familiar. He is torn, but after more “chance” encounters, decides to meet her and a romance begins.

But, as we soon learn, the two have already been in a relationship for over 2 years, a relationship that pretty much went to shit. So much so that both, first she, then he have had every memory of it wiped from their minds by an ominous company. Is there a second chance for them?

Few romantic films are as original and thoughtful as this one, from a script by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich).

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Brokeback Mountain

Wyoming 1963: 19-year-old Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) takes a job at a sheep ranch on Brokeback Mountain. There he meets Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), with whom he becomes friends and herds sheep together. One particularly cold night, they lie close together in the tent. When Jack cautiously approaches, Ennis vehemently blocks at first, but then their inhibitions fall away and they have sex together.

The film tells the stirring story of a love that the protagonists refuse to allow because the society in which they live does not allow it.

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Moonrise Kingdom

New Pensance Island off the coast of New England in 1965: twelve-year-old Sam sneaks out of his scout camp to run away with his pen pal Suzy, who lives on the island. Soon they are wanted by the scouts, the local police and their parents. But perhaps the greatest adventure for the two is their first kiss…

Probably no other film conveys so well the feeling of being in love as a child. Wes Anderson’s magical realism transports us to a fabulously beautiful world.
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Groundhog Day

Phil Connors is a terribly arrogant and unsympathetic weatherman who doesn’t take kindly to anyone or anything. His particular nightmare is having to comment on the annual Groundhog Day ritual in the small town of Punxsutawney, which is completely beneath him in his eyes. After a snowstorm forces him to spend another night there, he wakes up on the same day over and over again.

What is initially a reason for him to do and try out everything he has always wanted to do, eventually leads to a transformation. One thing he just can’t do: seduce his colleague Rita. A favourite film of my childhood and still, in my opinion, the best role for Bill Murray.

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Before Sunrise

On the train from Budapest to Paris, the American Jesse and the Frenchwoman Céline get to know each other. Jesse persuades her to get off the train with him in Vienna and the two spend a night together exploring the city and talking about God and the world until dawn.

The plot is minimalistic, but director and screenwriter Richard Linklater shows once again that his supreme discipline is deep conversations. The sequels Before Sunset and Before Midnight are also highly recommended!
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Secretary

A mix of romance film and black comedy about a BDSM relationship in the workplace? Secretary, which was a surprise hit at the Sundance Festival in 2001, proves that this can work.

Lee Holloway is mentally unstable and prone to self-harming behaviour. After her release from the psychiatric hospital, she successfully attends a course in typing and soon gets a job as a secretary for lawyer E. Edward Grey.

He soon turns out to be a power-mad tyrant. But this is exactly what turns Lee on and she discovers a previously hidden side of herself.

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Harold and Maude

Love knows no age could be the motto for this remarkable film. A classic in romantic love films for good reason!

Harold, about 20 years old, experiences little love from his extremely wealthy mother and tries in vain to gain her attention with staged suicides.

He is fascinated by death and attends funerals of complete strangers. At one of these funerals he meets the almost 80-year-old eccentric Maude. She is lively, fun-loving and unconventional and teaches Harold to love life again. And soon, her too.

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Have fun with at least one of the best romantic movies ever made! Fancy some more romantic ideas? Then browse our overview pages for romantic experiences and the best activities for two 😉

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