Sony
If love isn’t in the air, it’s sure to be on Netflix. The streaming giant has a host of swoon-worthy titles guaranteed to sweep you off your feet. There are high school rom-coms, ’60s coming-of-age stories, period drama, World War II romances, and plenty of forbidden love affairs to keep things juicy. (Be still our beating hearts.) Of course, because there are so many romantic films to choose from, we’ve chosen the cream of the crop. Grab some tissues and get ready to melt over the best romances on Netflix right now.
Related: The Best Romantic Comedies On Netflix Right Now, Ranked
Focus Features
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Run Time: 108 min | IMDb: 8.3/10
This critically-acclaimed sci-fi romance centers on two ex-lovers who have their memories of one another erased after a bad breakup, only to meet again and question their decision to forget the past. Jim Carrey plays Joel, a shy, awkward-type hopelessly in love with Clementine (Kate Winslet), an eccentric, free-spirited woman whom he meets in Montauk. The pair strike up a two-year romance, only for things to end rather terribly with Clementine choosing to wipe her memories of Joel using a procedure devised by a company called Lacuna, Inc. Joel follows suit and most of the film plays in reverse, chronicling their time together from end to beginning before Joel and Clementine meet again, this time strangers. It’s a poignant, heartbreaking love story that’s still full of laughs.
Focus Features
2. Atonement (2007)
Run Time: 123 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
Joe Wright’s romantic period piece is less about war, or at least, the violence of it, and more about how circumstance can tear people apart. Spanning six decades, the film follows a young groundskeeper played by James McAvoy, who falls in love with a British heiress (Keira Knightley) but is mistakenly accused of assault and forced to join the war effort to pay for his crimes. The real standout of the film is a young Saoirse Ronan, who plays Briony, a 13-year-old girl and witness to the events and whose testimony forever disrupts the lives of those around her. It’s grand and lush and beautifully shot. Pretty much everything you’d expect from Wright.
Wild Bunch
3. Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)
Run Time: 179 min | IMDb: 7.8/10
When this French coming-of-age drama premiered in 2013, it sparked plenty of controversies. The film centers on a blooming romance between a naïve teenager named Adele and her free-spirited lover, Emma. Praised for painting an honest portrait of a lesbian romance on screen while also scrutinized for its sometimes graphic sexual content, the film marked a turning point in how the LGBTQ community was represented on film and gave people a heartbreaking look at a young woman discovering herself and her sexual identity in an unforgiving world.
Netflix
4. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Run Time: 99 mins | IMDb: 7.7/10
Netflix’s latest original flick is being hailed as the best teen rom-com of the decade and for good reason. The story stars Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey, a junior in high school who tends to write her crushes love letters but never actually send them. After those same letters are anonymously sent, she’s forced to do damage control by carrying on a fake relationship with one of her former love interests. It’s a sweet, oddly empowering twist on the classic rom-com trope and you won’t be able to scroll through Twitter without coming across a Peter Kavinsky stan account thanks to this one.
The Weinstein Company
5. Blue Valentine (2010)
Run Time: 112 min | IMDb: 7.4/10
This romantic drama starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling is equal parts sweet love story and messy, unavoidable tragedy. The actors play a pair of lovers whose relationship is charted in nonlinear fashion over the course of the film. Things begin promisingly, as they always do, before failed careers, addiction, dishonesty, and a general feeling of unhappiness slowly rot away at the couple’s marriage. It’s a mesmerizing train wreck, but honestly, aren’t all of the great love stories?
Netflix
6. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
Run Time: 124 mins | IMDb: 7.4/10
Lily James and Matthew Goode star in this romantic drama loosely-based on a true story. James plays Juliet, a young writer looking for an idea for her next book when she stumbles upon a letter from a resident of a British Channel island detailing their town’s occupation by Nazis during the war and how they formed a kind of resistance through an innocuous book club. The leader of that book club went missing during the war, believed to have been taken to a concentration camp for openly-rebelling against the Nazi occupation, and throughout the film, Juliet draws closer to her story, and a certain man on the island, as she explores the way books have the ability to bring people together. It’s the Downton Abbey spin-off that should tide fans over for now.
Warner Brothers
7. Her (2013)
Run Time: 126 mins | IMDb: 8/10
Spike Jonze imagines a world in which Artificial Intelligence can become something more than just a personal assistant program. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a depressed introvert going through a divorce who starts up a relationship with an OS named Samantha. Things get serious before Theodore begins to realize that romance with an A.I. is more complicated than he thought. What follows is a thoughtful exploration of love, relationships, and the ways human beings find connection in a plugged-in world.
Universal Pictures
8. Love Actually (2003)
Run Time: 135 mins | IMDb: 7.6/10
Is there a more polarizing rom-com in the history of cinema than Love, Actually? Probably not. The holiday-themed flick is a beloved classic or the cheesiest romance movie to grace the big screen, depending on who you talk to. Still, even the detractors can’t argue how fun it is to see some big-name British talent like Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth and more working together. The premise follows a few different subplots that all connect by the end of the film with a school play, but the only spoiler we’ll give is that yes, Andrew Lincoln’s cue card bit is as cute and creepy as you’d expect.
The Orchard
9. Blue Jay (2016)
Run Time: 80 min | IMDb: 7.3/10
Another tearjerker, this one stars Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass as a pair of former high school sweethearts who run into each other when Duplass’ character returns home to renovate his late mother’s home. The two spend the day together, reminiscing about their old lives, pretending to be a couple again, and eventually sorting through some unresolved issues.
Sony
10. An Education (2009)
Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 7.3/10
Carey Mulligan stars in this 1960’s coming-of-age drama from screenwriter Nick Hornby. Mulligan plays Jenny, a bright, gifted young woman with plans to attend Oxford University after completing her studies. She meets and falls for an older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard) who treats her to the finer things in life. Believing him to be a man of taste and means, her parents allow Jenny to travel with David, even become engaged to him before the truth about his past is revealed. As disappointing as the ending of this film is, it’s an interesting look at a young woman’s introduction to the world and to love.
Entertainment One
11. Suite Francaise (2014)
Run Time: 107 min | IMDb: 7/10
This World War II drama follows a pair of star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of the conflict. Michelle Williams stars as Lucille, a young Frenchwoman living with her domineering mother-in-law while her husband’s off fighting in the war. Matthias Schoenaerts plays a German officer name Bruno, who stays with Lucille during the German occupation. The two become close, gaining the ire of the townsfolk as they bond over music and the effect of the war. Things end as well as can be expected but the journey there is the kind of old-school romance we just don’t see enough of on film these days.
A24
12. The Spectacular Now (2013)
Run Time: 95 mins | IMDb: 7.1/10
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley star as a pair of lovestruck teens in this messy, high school romance that eschews the rose-colored view of first love for something a bit more gritty and real. Teller is Sutter, a popular senior who lives in the “now” which roughly translates to him being perpetually wasted and squandering his chance at college by partying and skipping school. Woodley is Aimee, a studious young woman taking care of her deadbeat mom and looking to live a little before heading off to college. The two become friends, then something more as they sort through some tough issues like neglectful fathers, addiction, broken families, and unrealized potential. It’s not the sweetest tale, but it’s more romantic for its realness.
The Weinstein Company
13. Carol (2015)
Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 7.2/10
Cate Blanchett in anything is worth your time, but Cate Blanchett giving a tour-de-force performance as a middle-aged housewife, who begins a forbidden love affair with an awkward shop-girl played by Rooney Mara is worth a permanent spot in any self-respecting cinephile’s Netflix queue. Besides giving us a lush, beautifully shot portrait of 1950s New York, Todd Haynes’ period drama also serves a muted yet heartbreaking romance that’s all the more powerful because of its subtlety.
Paramount
14. 45 Years (2015)
Run Time: 91 min | IMDb: 7.1/10
Charlotte Rampling stars in this poignant, ultimately heartbreaking portrait of a marriage built on the foundation of a past relationship. Rampling plays Kate, a well-off woman living in Norfolk with her husband, Geoff (Tom Courtenay). The two are prepping for their 45th wedding anniversary when Geoff gets a call that dredges up his romance with a woman fifty years prior. Over the course of six days, Kate discovers disturbing secrets about her husband’s love affair, secrets that cause her to question her entire marriage.
Apparition
15. Bright Star (2009)
Run Time: 119 min | IMDb: 7/10
Set in early 1800’s England, this film from Jane Campion starring Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw reimagines the final years of prolific poet John Keats. Whishaw plays Keats, a young genius struggling to gain notoriety for his work. Cornish plays Fanny Brawne, a stylish young woman who becomes Keats’ paramour, inspiring some of his best poetry. The two carry out what ultimately is a doomed romance, but if 19th century restrained flirtations expressed through novel-length love letters and camera close-ups are your thing, well then this movie is also your thing.
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