20 films · The Lovvy team
20 romantic movies to watch with your partner
Twenty love stories beyond the obvious: classics, modern favourites and a few that will start a conversation.
These are romantic films that hold up to a second viewing, which is the real test. None of them repeat the ones in our 30 best movies to watch as a couple, so between the two lists you have fifty nights covered.
The classics
- 1
Casablanca (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
A nightclub owner in wartime Morocco, and the woman who walks back into his life. The classic that half of cinema still quotes.
- 2
Roman Holiday (1953)
Directed by William Wyler
A princess slips away from her official duties for one day in Rome with a reporter. Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa.
- 3
Moonstruck (1987)
Directed by Norman Jewison
A Brooklyn widow agrees to marry a dull man and then falls for his brother. Cher, Nicolas Cage and a very Italian family.
- 4
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Directed by Emile Ardolino
Summer of 1963 at a holiday resort, where a doctor’s daughter falls for the dance instructor. Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
- 5
Ghost (1990)
Directed by Jerry Zucker
A man stays behind as a ghost to protect the woman he loves, with help from a reluctant psychic. The pottery scene is only the start.
The comfort romances
- 6
Love Actually (2003)
Directed by Richard Curtis
A handful of London love stories in the weeks before Christmas. You will each have a favourite, and they will not be the same one.
- 7
The Holiday (2006)
Directed by Nancy Meyers
Two women swap homes for Christmas, one in Los Angeles and one in an English cottage. Cosy in the most literal way.
Also in: Movies to watch cuddled up: 20 picks for a quiet night
- 8
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Directed by Nora Ephron
A widower’s son calls a radio show to find his dad a new wife, and a woman on the other side of the country is listening.
- 9
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Directed by Nora Ephron
Two bookshop owners who cannot stand each other are, without knowing it, falling for each other by email.
- 10
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Directed by Mike Newell
A group of friends, five ceremonies, and a man who keeps running into the same American woman. Very British, very funny.
- 11
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Directed by Jon M. Chu
A New York economics professor flies to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family and finds out how rich they really are.
The ones that stay with you
- 12
Before Sunset (2004)
Directed by Richard Linklater
Nine years later, the same two people get one afternoon in Paris. Shot almost in real time, it plays like a conversation you are allowed to overhear.
- 13
Before Midnight (2013)
Directed by Richard Linklater
The couple, now together for years, on holiday in Greece. The most honest film in the trilogy about what staying in love actually takes.
- 14
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Directed by Marc Webb
A relationship told out of order, from the first day to the last. It warns you at the start that it is not a love story.
- 15
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Directed by David O. Russell
Two people with their own messes agree to enter a dance competition together. Loud, warm and funny about hard things.
- 16
Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola
A fading film star and a young woman, both sleepless in a Tokyo hotel, keep each other company. Lonely and lovely at the same time.
Also in: Movies for a rainy night in, as a couple, Movies to watch cuddled up: 20 picks for a quiet night, Movies to watch together when you’re long distance
- 17
Call Me by Your Name (2017)
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
A summer in northern Italy in 1983, a seventeen-year-old and the student who comes to stay. Sunlight, peaches and a first love.
- 18
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Directed by Céline Sciamma
On an island in eighteenth-century Brittany, a painter is hired to paint a young woman who refuses to pose. Slow, burning and unforgettable.
- 19
Carol (2015)
Directed by Todd Haynes
New York in the 1950s, a young shop assistant and an elegant older woman. Every glance matters.
- 20
The Shape of Water (2017)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
A cleaner at a secret government lab falls for the creature kept there. A fairy tale for adults set during the Cold War.
After the credits, try rating each one before you say anything. Here is why it makes for a better conversation.