Best Romantic Movies: Ultimate Love Stories
Last Updated: March 2026From classic romances to modern love stories.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Raj is a rich, carefree, happy-go-lucky second generation NRI. Simran is the daughter of Chaudhary Baldev Singh, who in spite of being an NRI is very strict about adherence to Indian values. Simran has left for India to be married to her childhood fiancé. Raj leaves for India with a mission at his hands, to claim his lady love under the noses of her whole family. Thus begins a saga.
Your Name. (2016)
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.
Forrest Gump (1994)
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
A Dog's Will (2000)
The lively João Grilo and the sly Chicó are poor guys living in the hinterland who cheat a bunch of people in a small town in Northeastern Brazil. When they die, they have to be judged by Christ, the Devil and the Virgin Mary before they are admitted to paradise.
Gabriel's Inferno (2020)
An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel's Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible--forgiveness and love.
A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?
Gabriel's Inferno: Part II (2020)
Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?
Gabriel's Inferno: Part III (2020)
The final part of the film adaption of the erotic romance novel Gabriel's Inferno written by an anonymous Canadian author under the pen name Sylvain Reynard.
Modern Times (1936)
A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..
City Lights (1931)
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.
Hotarubi no Mori e (2011)
One hot summer day a little girl gets lost in an enchanted forest of the mountain god where spirits reside. A young boy appears before her, but she cannot touch him for fear of making him disappear. And so a wondrous adventure awaits...
Clouds (2020)
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon.
Life in a Year (2020)
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (2018)
After his classmate and crush is diagnosed with a pancreatic disease, an average high schooler sets out to make the most of her final days.
About This List
The romance genre has been quietly reinventing itself for the past decade. The Nora Ephron-era formula — boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back through grand gesture — has given way to something more psychologically honest: stories where love is complicated, where people don't always end up together, and where the emotional labor of a relationship is shown rather than glossed over.
Films like Normal People, Call Me By Your Name, and Carol found massive audiences precisely because they treated love with the same moral and emotional complexity that serious drama applies to any other subject. The genre no longer assumes a happy ending is the only worthy destination for a love story.
This list covers the full range: the warm, optimistic romances that will make you want to call someone you care about, and the more searching, complicated ones that will make you think about the nature of connection long after the film ends. There's room for both in a genre this rich.