5 films to watch this Valentine's week

Blue Valentine:

Love is quite terrible really. (Sorry, that was a bleak way to begin the list). Blue Valentine released in 2011 and stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling who play Cindy and Dean. It’s the story of a dying relationship, a bitter couple within whom resentment has grown too high to be throttled down again.

The story chronicles a six year relationship of a working class couple, with a swaying timeline juxtaposing the bitterness of now versus the hope and love the couple has when they first met, their eagerness to get to know each other and the blind faith they have in wanting to assimilate their lives together, to make it all one. A lot of people believe that the relationship didn’t really work because the two characters possibly never really loved each other enough, but love is put to test only when responsibility arrives, and the stakes are risen. Blue Valentine is one of the most beautifully heartbreaking films to ever exist.

Notting Hill:

Hugh Grant is a beautiful soft man who works at a bookshop in London with a generous and charming group of friends. Notting Hill is a swoon-worthy romance, with Julia Roberts playing Anna, a famous but wonderfully down to earth and kind actress, saying the words, ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.’

In the charming, pastel-colored streets of West London, William Thacker lives a life of quiet, slightly rumpled contentment. As the owner of a struggling travel bookshop, his days are filled with eccentric customers and the occasional “Whoopsidaisies” moment. However, his mundane routine is shattered when he rounds a street corner and collides with Anna Scott, the world’s most famous film star.

Mortified by his clumsiness, William manages to shepherd the world-renowned actress back to his nearby flat to clean up. While she changes in his spare bedroom, the air is thick with his signature brand of charmingly diffident banter (a mix of self-deprecation and stuttering sincerity) that stands in stark contrast to the scripted polish of her Hollywood life.

Softened by William’s genuine kindness and his refusal to treat her like a goddess, Anna impulsively kisses him full on the lips. The divide between the most fabulous movie star in the world and a floppy-haired bookshop owner vanishes, sparking a romance that proves even the most extraordinary people are looking for something remarkably simple.

Scent of a Woman:

The story follows Charlie Simms, played by Chris O’Donnell, a scholarship student at a prestigious prep school, who is compelled to get a job to earn money to get a flight home. The job turns out to be taking care of Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade played by Al Pacino, a blind, brilliant and bitter army officer.

A naughty man, Frank intends to live the last tour of luxury through fine dining, expensive suits and beautiful women before ending his life. There are beautiful scenes, with Frank driving a ferrari and Charlie woefully guiding him. In another scene with a woman named Donna, he teaches her to tango. Blinded by war, Slade leads with confidence, telling his partner, “No mistakes in the tango, darling… If you make a mistake, get all tangled up, just tango on.”

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

Eternal Sunshine begins in the same vein as Blue Valentine. At the end. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet deliver gorgeously offering a surreal honest exploration of why we cling to love even when it hurts. The story follows the introverted Joel as he discovers his ex-girlfriend, Clementine, has undergone a medical procedure to erase him from her memory. In a fit of vengeful heartbreak, he decides to do the same. However, as the treatment begins, Joel finds himself frantically sprinting through the crumbling landscapes of his own mind, trying to save his memories of Clementine to prevent her from being lost forever.

By revisiting their relationship in reverse — moving from the bitter resentment of their breakup back to the magical spark of their first encounter, the film argues that the scars are just as important as the joy in a relationship. Just because something ends badly, doesn’t mean it becomes redundant, or the person is only capable of hurt, it simply means that things are sad sometimes. It suggests that erasing the pain of a failed romance also means erasing the growth and comfort it provided.

The film is a beautiful, melancholic tribute to the idea that love is worth the inevitable heartbreak, concluding with a simple, courageous acceptance of human imperfection. We may be doomed to repeat patterns, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty of a relationship. The film is romantic because it reminds us that the magic is special.

The Before Trilogy:

This is a bit of cheating, since it is technically three films (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight) but the Before Trilogy is one of the greatest odes to love to ever exist.  It captures the evolution of love in real-time across eighteen years. It begins with the romantic idealism of Before Sunrise, where Jesse and Celine’s chance encounter in Vienna represents the intoxicating spark of youth — curiosity and connection, they wan to know each other, they feel free with each other. What could be better?

By Before Sunset, their reunion in Paris proves that time and regret cannot dim a soul-deep connection. The beauty of this progression lies in its refusal to offer a fairy-tale ending, instead grounding the romance in the intellectual and emotional growth of the characters as they transition from strangers to star-crossed lovers, waiting for each other, living their own lives, but also yearning all this time.  

The final chapter, Before Midnight, completes the story by showcasing the “work” of a long-term partnership. Now weathered by the friction of domesticity and parenthood in Greece, their “miraculous talking” shifts from flirtatious discovery to raw negotiation. This transition is profoundly beautiful because it suggests that true intimacy is in the gritty, resilient choice to stay together despite knowing each other’s deepest flaws. A relationship is ugly, it will forcefully bring forth all sides of you, but is also beautiful. Linklater’s trilogy honors the reality that while the scent of early romance is sweet, the enduring bond of a shared life — cracks and all, is the ultimate romantic triumph.