Romeo and Juliet. Tristan and Isolde. Jack and Rose. Why is it that the most iconic love stories in our collective cultural imagination are also the most tragic? Perhaps because these pairings are all subject to something extraordinary: a connection more powerful than convention, and a love that knows no bounds.
But this love should come with a warning label. In addition to bouts of extreme passion and daydreaming, it may also cause despair, destruction and lots of tears — both for the characters and for the spectators.
So, here’s to the lovers entangled in forbidden partnerships. To the underdogs, the rebels and the mismatched duos. The affairs that might not last in the real world, but run their course over the stretch of one beautiful movie.
After all, romantic comedies are good and fun. But if you want a real romantic movie experience, watch a film guaranteed to make you sob from the highs and lows of human experience, all piled up in rapid succession.
This story was originally published in August 2020 and has since been updated.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (2025)
The Tearjerker: When the owl, which represents the family’s grief, finally flies away and sets them free.
An unlikely contender, the latest addition to the charming Bridget Jones franchise is slightly sadder than its predecessors, with Bridget (Renée Zellweger) now bumbling through life as a widow and single mother to Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). The thought of our beloved pop-culture icon Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) dying in a car accident is heart-wrenching enough, but watching his family come to terms with it is something else entirely.
We Live In Time (2024)
The Tearjerker: "I’m worried there’s a very distinct and real possibility that I am about to fall in love with you."
From the minute that Tobias (Andrew Garfield), an ordinary Weetabix representative, is hit by Almut’s (Florench Pugh’s) car, the chemistry is palpable. After embarking upon a relationship that feels achingly real and relatable to the viewer, Almut (who’s an ex-figure skater and now snazzy chef) is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and has to choose between a full hysterectomy or riskier treatment that could allow them to have children later on in life. Then, just as you think everything is fine, it isn’t. Expect tears to fall within the first 15 minutes…
Past Lives (2023)
The Tearjerker: "What if this is a past life as well, and we are already something else to each other in our next life? Who do you think we are then?"
When New York-based writer Nora is reunited with her childhood best friend from South Korea, Hae Sung, they must confront how they fit into each others' lives after all this time. Past Lives delves into the antithetical feelings of being happy in your current life, but at the same time mourning the life you used to live, the person you used to be and the different paths you could have taken — especially when it comes to love.
Queen & Slim (2019)
The Tearjerker: "I want a guy to show me myself. I want him to love me so deeply, I’m not afraid to show him how ugly I can be."
In this Melina Matsoukas-Lena Waithe collaboration, the classic Bonnie and Clyde story gets a total makeover that's relevant and poignant for the times. Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya)'s uneventful first date turns traumatic when they encounter a trigger-happy racist cop, sending the unlikely couple on the run and on a heartbreaking journey to love. No spoilers, but this film ends exactly the way you hope it wouldn't — bring tissues.
The Tearjerker: "I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass."
Based on James Baldwin's novel of the same name, Beale Street tells the story of Tish (Kiki Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), childhood friends and now sweethearts who want nothing but to get married and raise their soon-to-be born baby together. Life has other plans: Fonny is arrested and thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit. Tish fights an uphill battle to get Fonny released, but the odds are perpetually stacked against him. It's a terribly sad love story that's also about the systemic oppression of Black Americans under mass incarceration.
A Star Is Born (2018)
The Tearjerker: "I'll never love again."
A Star Is Born has been remade three times prior to Bradley Cooper's latest version, and yet no one has thought to change the tragic ending. In this version, Cooper's rocker Jackson falls for an undiscovered songwriter Ally (Lady Gaga), and encourages her to take charge of her music career. But with Jackson's own star fading, the relationship between him and the rising superstar is doomed.
Brief Encounter (1940)
The Tearjerker: "I’ve fallen in love. I didn’t think such violent things could happen to ordinary people."
Brief Encounter is heartbreaking in its ordinariness. A housewife (Celia Johnson) meets a doctor (Trevor Howard) during her routine errand run. They fall in love, of course, during that brief encounter on the train. Though she gravitates closer to him and further from her domestic obligations in the weeks that follow, the couple is crushed by their roles.
The Notebook (2004)
The Tearjerker: “Read this to me and I’ll come back to you.”
The Notebook is one of those movies that is so sad, you could break out into tears just thinking about it. The drama chronicles the highs and lows of the life-long romance between working-class Noah (Ryan Gosling) and upper-class Allie (Rachel McAdams). The intense chemistry between the two stars and the various hurdles (a disapproving family, false starts, a world war) that Noah and Allie face are more than enough to sweep you up in the film’s emotional arc. But add in older Noah reading from a journal to a dementia-stricken Allie as the framing device, and you’ll be left feeling devastated for quite some time.
A Walk to Remember (2002)
The Tearjerker: “Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything. About life, hope and the long journey ahead. I'll always miss her. But our love is like the wind. I can't see it, but I can feel it.”
Maybe you’ll feel silly sobbing over teenage love, but that’s exactly what will happen with A Walk to Remember, which follows the unexpected, life-changing relationship between bad boy high school senior Landon (Shane West) and minister’s daughter Jamie (Mandy Moore). When the two are reluctantly thrown together in the school play, Jamie makes Landon promise not to fall in love with her — a weird thing for one teen to ask another, and something one can never guarantee. The pit in your stomach that forms when her reasoning — a fatal leukemia diagnosis — is finally revealed never quite goes away, even as the young couple stay steadfast in their love for each other.
Moonlight (2016)
The Tearjerker: “You’re the only man that’s ever touched me. You’re the only one. I haven’t really touched anyone since.”
Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning film Moonlight is a profoundly moving coming-of-age portrait of a young Black man throughout various stages of his life as he explores his sexuality and who he fundamentally is. The movie is told in three chapters focusing on defining moments for protagonist Chiron, who is played at different ages by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes. Although we only spend brief snapshots with each Chiron, every actor gives stunning, fully realized performances that effortlessly win viewers over. You feel exactly what Chiron feels, almost as if you are experiencing every tough or happy moment alongside him, basically making it impossible for the tears not to come.
Blue Valentine (2010)
The Tearjerker: “I can’t do this anymore.”
Almost every moment in Blue Valentine — which follows the dissolution of one couple’s marriage — is painful to watch. Told in a non-linear manner, we see Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling) find love at the beginning of their relationship while also watching it fall apart before our eyes some years later, which makes the film all the more effective. You understand how and why Cindy and Dean’s deep connection comes about — so much so that you desperately want them to make it work — but you can also clearly see that the pair are in fundamentally different places with different wants and needs. There’s no way for Cindy and Dean to make it work, and that’s what hurts most of all.
The Vow (2012)
The Tearjerker: “How do you look at the woman you love and tell yourself it’s time to walk away?”
Imagine this: You meet the love of your life and you are blissfully happy together. Then a car accident leaves your partner with amnesia, and they’ve forgotten your entire relationship — including why and just how much they love you. That hypothetical scenario is enough to choke anyone up, but it’s the true story that inspired The Vow and was brought to life by Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. And trust me, if you see Rachel McAdams cry on screen, you’re going to want to cry too.
Atonement (2007)
The Tearjerker: “Robbie, look at me. Come back. Come back to me.”
The movie Atonement, which is adapted from the Ian McEwan novel of the same name, has two classically sad tropes: lovers torn apart by class, and lovers torn apart by war. The plot is also much more complicated than that. Cecilia (Keira Knightley), the eldest daughter of a wealthy British family, and Robbie (James McAvoy), the housekeeper’s son, are secretly in love. But when Cecilia’s younger sister Briony (played as a child by Saoirse Ronan and at age 18 by Romola Garai) observes the two in a passionate moment and falsely accuses Robbie of rape, the couple is separated — first by prison, then by World War II. Your heart breaks for Cecilia, Robbie and what should have been, as well as an adult Briony, who can never make up for an awful act she committed as a child.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
The Tearjerker: “In solitude, I felt the liberty you spoke of. But I also felt your absence.”
Every scene in Portrait of a Lady on Fire looks like a work of art, but there’s so much more beauty to be found in the film. Written and directed by acclaimed French filmmaker Céline Sciamma, the intimate drama is set in 18th century France and follows painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant), who has been hired to create a portrait of an upper class woman Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). The catch? Héloïse can’t know what Marianne is doing, because she refuses to sit for portraits and does not want to get married. Watching the two women grow closer together is almost intoxicating, even with the devastating knowledge that they’ll never truly be able to have what they want.
Your Name (2016)
The Tearjerker: “I love you.”
The power of connection is at its most moving in Your Name, a Japanese anime film about Tokyo high schooler Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and mountain-town student Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi). The pair are total strangers, but, somehow, they have been magically bonded and can swap bodies. As they experience life through an entirely new POV, they become determined to meet IRL — a journey that will take you on a very teary-eyed roller coaster of emotions. If you're new to anime, this is a good entry point because not only will you be in awe of the stunning art, you'll be stuck bawling at the star-crossed twist. We recommend watching with subs, not dubs
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The Tearjerker: "I wish I knew how to quit you."
As Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) discover, a lot can happen during long nights on the range. Under the big Wyoming skies in 1963, Jack and Ennis fall deeply in love. Over the next 20 years, the men fight to preserve what was once kindled on Brokeback Mountain, but struggle against the oppressive constraints of their marriages and societal pressure.
Titanic (1997)
The Tearjerker: "It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it."
When Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), a drifter with boyish charm, and Rose (Kate Winslet), a 17-year-old socialite, climb aboard the doomed ocean liner, there are two things they don’t know. Firstly, that the ship will sink after hitting an iceberg in the Arctic. Secondly, that before the ship sinks, they’ll experience an awe-inspiring, life-changing love — the kind, perhaps, worth boarding the Titanic for.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
The Tearjerker: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
Granted, Moulin Rouge's tearjerker of a line isn't even from the movie. But so much of Moulin Rouge! is borrowed, including the main songs. Christian (Ewan MacGregor) and Satine's (Nicole Kidman) love story is doomed from the start. But director Baz Luhrrman makes sure that everything that comes before the tragic ending is gleaming with beauty and lavishness.
Chungking Express (1994)
The tearjerker: "Actually, really knowing someone doesn't mean anything. People change. A person may like pineapple today and something else tomorrow."
In this heavily stylised film, two cops in Hong Kong fall in love. Kaneshiro falls for the mysterious, trenchcoat-clad Brigitte Lin, and his coworker, Leung, is drawn to the day-dreaming kebab-stall girl, Faye Wong. But in this movie of "could have beens," the possibility of romance is more exciting than any substantial relationship actually materializing between the pairs.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
The Tearjerker: "People only die of love in the movies."
Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) and Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) fall madly in love just as Guy is drafted to serve in the Algerian War. And yet, the love that had been so wildly strong fades. She gets pregnant. He comes home and marries someone else. Things change. The movie reaches a breaking emotional climax when, years later, the lovers have a chance encounter on a snowy evening back in the town they first met.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
The Tearjerker: “Remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once."
Each summer, Elio (Timothee Chalemet) goes to his family's Italian villa with his father and mother. The summer Elio is 17 he experiences something we all hope to: Sublime, searing, true love, which comes to him in the form of Oliver (Armie Hammer), his father's research assistant. After a few weeks of denying the rumblings of attraction, Oliver and Elio come together with an intense craving for oneness, to create something more significant than either of them are individually.
500 Days of Summer (2009)
The Tearjerker: “People change. Feelings change. It doesn’t mean that the love once shared wasn’t true or real. It simply means that sometimes when people grow, they grow apart.”
500 Days of Summer is the magical realism, imagination-fueled version of something many of us have, or will, go through: The rise and fall of a relationship. After his girlfriend (Zooey Deschanel) breaks up with him, Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) parses through the 500 days of their relationship and figure out what went wrong. As Tom finds, the relationship did start off with a big difference in philosophy, though. Summer doesn't believe in boyfriends, and Tom is a hopeless romantic.
An Affair to Remember (1957)
The Tearjerker: "I really hope you've found happiness, and if you're ever in need of anything, like someone to love you, don't hesitate to call me."
The couple in Sleepless in Seattle wasn't the first to make plans to meet on the top of the Empire State Building. After meeting, and falling in love, on a cruise from Europe and New York, two people decide to reunite on top of the iconic building in six months. Both are engaged at the time. Six months later, Nickie (Cary Grant) arrives promptly to their high-altitude meeting place, but Terry (Deborah Kerr) is injured on her way. How will he find her again?
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
The Tearjerker: "You gave me a forever within the numbered days and I can't tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity."
Teen movies are known for playing adolescent emotions like angsty harps, but The Fault in Our Stars raised the bar for ravaging its audiences. In the film, two teenagers diagnosed with cancer meet during a support group meeting and start a relationship. They make the most of the time they have together.
West Side Story (1961)
The tearjerker: "For here you are / And what was just a world is a star"
In this iconic musical, the story of Romeo and Juliet is transposed to 1960s Manhattan, and set to music. Revision: in this iconic musical, the story of Romeo and Juliet is improved.
This time around, the instant and forbidden love is between Tony (Richard Beymer), an American, and Maria (Natalie Wood), a Puerto Rican immigrant. Maria's brother is the leader of the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang that's sworn enemies with Tony's gang, the Jets. Over the next few days, the lovers' rebellion will unleash a tragic chain of events.
The English Patient (1996)
The Tearjerker: "Swoon, I'll catch you."
Is it just me, or do all the most epic love stories also happen to be period pieces with amazing costumes? That description certainly applies to The English Patient, the story of an epic romance between a Hungarian count (Ralph Fiennes) and a married Englishwoman (Kristin Scott Thomas). When we first meet Lazslo, though, he's burnt beyond recognition in a hospital bed in Italy at the end of WWII. Slowly, he tells the story of his extraordinary life to his nurse, Hana (Juliette Binoche), who has a love affair of her own.
Up (2009)
The Tearjerker: The five-minute-long opening montage that tells the story of Carl and Ellie's marriage without words.
Carl’s a grumpy 78-year-old balloon salesman man, closed off to the world since the death of his beloved wife. She passed away before they could take their trip to Paradise Falls, the place where adventure awaits. Rigging his old house up with balloons, Carl’s planning his big exit: a trip to Paradise Falls. But when Carl takes off and finds an over eager Boy Scout has snuck aboard, his grand plans are dashed.
Amour (2012)
The Tearjerker: "Please never take me back to the hospital. Promise…Promise me."
Most romance movies are about the start of a relationship. Amour, a French drama about a married couple in their 80s, is about the uncomfortable implication in the vow, "'Til death do us part." Georges and Anne, retired music teachers, have spent their lives together. After Anne suffers from an attack, her impaired state brings the couple near the bleakest impasse of them all: the inevitability of an ending.
Like Crazy (2011)
The Tearjerker: "What have you been doing?" "Waiting for you."
Visas, immigration, and other impediments to true love are such a drag. When the British Anna (Felicity Jones) and the American Jacob (Anton Yelchin) fall madly in love at the end of their senior year in Los Angeles, Anna violates the terms of her student visa for a few more days with Jacob. Consequently, Anna is barred from reentering the United States. The thrilling, blissful fury of first love struggles with transatlantic pressures in this downright heartbreaking, authentic film.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Tearjerker: "I wanna remember us just as we are now."
In one of American cinema's more interesting forays into fabulism, Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a man destined to grow "young" instead of old. Born an old man, Benjamin ages in reverse. Benjamin and his his childhood friend, Daisy Fuller (Cate Blanchett), are madly in love. But given their reverse aging trajectories, there's only a limited time frame in which they can be together.
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